Many states and communities have invested in public early childhood education programs to improve children's readiness to enter school and narrow achievement gaps in later grades. This study asked whether and how Wisconsin's universal state-funded prekindergarten program, Wisconsin 4K, has improved student achievement and helped to reduce the…

A key to reducing reading difficulty, particularly for children living in poverty, is to provide high quality, explicit, and well-planned instruction from the start of a child's school career. Preschools that provide quality language, literacy, and content instruction have produced promising positive effects on children's later academic…

The current study examined the feasibility and initial efficacy of the Summer Treatment Program for Pre-kindergarteners (STP-PreK) with 37 preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Parents and teachers reported on children's behavior, social/adaptive skills, and self-regulation. Children completed…

This article explores Head Start's overall effectiveness in improving school readiness outcomes and its potential to reduce gaps in these outcomes in light of changing program goals, resource and funding capacity, and the demographic changes in the low-income child population it serves. Although not an explicit goal of the Head Start program, we…

Many states have implemented or expanded state-funded prekindergarten programs in the last decade, encouraged by claims about the benefits that can be expected and the importance of early experiences for children's development, especially for economically disadvantaged children. However, there is remarkably little methodologically adequate…

This article examines the development of self-regulation skills in early childhood and the possibilities of children's contemplative practices as a viable tool to facilitate this development. Current research indicates that self-regulation skills in early childhood education make a significant contribution to school readiness, and long-term…

Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts (PA PKC) is a state-funded prekindergarten program for 3- and 4- year-old children to help them gain school readiness skills. The goal of PA PKC is to help reduce educational disparities by providing high quality prekindergarten for children who lack opportunities or reside in environments that place them at risk of…

This report explores the extent to which states (and several large cities) are positioned to provide high quality preschool education on a large scale. States and cities that are already doing so or that could do so with modest improvements offer opportunities for advocacy to advance access to high quality early education as well as for rigorous…

This article describes Washington State's Student Achievement Initiative, an accountability system implemented in 2005-06 that measures students' gains in college readiness, college credits earned, and degree or certificate completion. The goal of the initiative is to increase educational attainment by focusing on the critical momentum points…

This brief is intended to provide State Education Agency (SEA) and Local Education Agency (LEA) educators with a brief overview of key components of GraduateFIRST, a Georgia program targeting issues impacting school completion for students with disabilities. Georgia's GraduateFIRST program has redefined the state's approach to raising graduation…

Chapin Hall has been conducting an implementation and evaluability study of the ECCI (Early Childhood Cluster Initiative) project since the midway point of its first year. As described in the authors' first report (Spielberger & Goyette, 2006), the initiative made considerable progress in its initial year, particularly in implementing the…

This executive summary presents findings from the Year 3 evaluation of Texas' state-level Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs, or GEAR UP, grant. GEAR UP grant requirements include an evaluation component designed to assess program effectiveness and to measure progress toward project goals. To this end, the evaluation…

In this Education Policy Brief, Indiana University's Center for Evaluation and Education Policy and Indiana Institute on Disability and Community tackle major policy questions regarding publicly-funded prekindergarten programs: Why should Indiana invest in prekindergarten? Who should be served? What should prekindergarten look like in Indiana? And…

This article details a strategic planning model and concurrent 3-year research study focusing on the benefits of preK-16 professional development school learning communities for the participating preK-16 educational leaders in a midwestern school-university partnership network. Results of the study, along with the strategic plan's success at…

Student achievement of cognitive and psychomotor objectives was evaluated in Saginaw, Mighigan's prekindergarten program. During the 1985-86 year, 454 children participated, based on their Prekindergarten Readiness Screening Device scores. The half-day program was funded through Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act to…