This study of 4- to 6-year-olds had 2 aims: first, to determine how lower level comprehension skills (receptive vocabulary and grammar) and verbal memory support early higher level comprehension skills (inference and literal story comprehension), and second, to establish the predictive power of these skills on subsequent reading comprehension.…

This article reviews the mechanics of conventional and piecewise growth models to demonstrate the unique affordances of each technique for examining the nature and predictors of children's early literacy learning during the transition from preschool through first grade. Using the nationally representative Family and Child Experiences Survey…

A classroom teacher's unique perspective is valuable when considering students for gifted and talented programs. We developed a series of 11 student profiles to measure 290 preservice and 95 in-service teachers' attitudes and asked them to indicate how strongly they believed the students in the profiles should or should not be recommended for…

Millions of American children reach 4th grade without learning to read proficiently. The shortfall is especially pronounced among low-income children. Reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade is a crucial marker in a child's educational development. Failure to read proficiently is linked to higher rates of school dropout, which suppresses…