Research Findings: In this study, a combination of variable-oriented and person-oriented statistical analyses was used to examine the links between three temperament factors (negative affectivity, surgency/extraversion, effortful control) evaluated before entry into kindergarten and the cognitive and socioemotional dimensions of school readiness…

This research tested a mediation model, examining whether individual differences in mothers' school readiness beliefs influenced home literacy practices and children's later academic achievement among African American (n = 114) and primarily Mexican origin Latina mothers (n = 164) and their children. Mothers of children ages 3-4 years reported…

This study used the FACES 2009 dataset to examine the possibility of an indirect effect of classroom quality on academic school readiness through teacher-rated approaches to learning in a large nationally representative sample of children served by Head Start. Research Findings: Classroom quality did not directly predict gains in academic school…

Research Findings: The study examined the relationship between Spanish-speaking DLL children's engagement within the preschool classroom with teachers, peers, and tasks and their school readiness skills compared to monolingual English-speaking peers. Results suggested that DLL children had lower language skills and phonological awareness by the…

Research Findings: Using a sample of 568 students from 61 kindergarten classrooms whose primary caregivers completed a questionnaire describing their child's early childhood education and care (ECEC) by year from birth to pre-kindergarten, we identified seven pathways characterizing children's ECEC experiences using a latent class analysis. Once…

Research Findings: Using data from 3,250 participants in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort, we used structural equation modeling to investigate whether family routines (e.g., bedtime routine, reading routine) established in preschool predict children's school readiness (i.e., academic skills, social-emotional skills, and…

Research Findings: Early reading and mathematics skills predict later academic success, and child self-regulation and secure parent-child relationships are both predictors of early academic skills. Self-regulatory and family relationship factors have rarely been studied together as predictors of early academic success in populations of young…

Research Findings: This study examined the contribution of several classroom experience measures (classroom characteristics, teacher characteristics, and teacher-child interactions) to preschoolers' improvement in visuomotor integration. Children (N = 467) ranged in age from 3 to 5 years old and were enrolled in 115 classrooms in 5 U.S. states.…

Research Findings: The objective of this study was to examine the student-teacher relationship as a potential moderator of the link between executive functioning (EF) and children's early school readiness among a clinical sample of preschoolers with externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Participants for the study included 139 preschool children…

Research Findings: This study examined whether children's executive functions before kindergarten would predict variance in executive functions after kindergarten. We obtained behavioral (working memory task performance), parent-reported (temperament-based inhibitory control), and psychophysiological (working memory-related changes in heart rate…

The majority of early education programs promote children's learning through a mix of experiences in child- and teacher-managed contexts. The current study examined time spent in child- and teacher-managed contexts and the nature of children's experiences with teachers in these contexts as they relate to children's skill development. Participants…

Research Findings: Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999, were used to examine the relation between parenting, sociodemographic characteristics, and school readiness among (N = 1,136) African American boys in kindergarten. Parenting was defined as parenting style (i.e., warmth and control), home learning…

Research Findings: We examined relations among preschoolers' behavioral regulation, gender, and school readiness outcomes in preacademic and classroom skills using a sample of South Korean preschoolers aged 3-5 ("N" = 229). Behavioral regulation was assessed using a direct measure, the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders task, which requires…

Research Findings: This study examines the theory of change of the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP), testing a sequence of theory-derived mediating mechanisms that include the quality of teacher-child relationships and children's self-regulation. The CSRP is a multicomponent teacher and classroom-focused intervention, and its…

Research conducted in preschool classrooms has long relied on measures of classroom quality that were developed in the 1980s based on theory and data available at that time. They examine classroom quality broadly, provide limited detail about supports for pre-academic instruction, and only weakly predict variation in children's acquisition of…