A broad range of initiatives including early intervention programmes have been implemented in Australia to assist disadvantaged and at-risk Indigenous parents and children. This qualitative exemplar case study details the perspectives of caregivers and service providers of one such early learning intervention programme situated within the remote…

This paper examines research that can inform policies aimed at building the capacity of early care and education programs to promote parent engagement in linguistically diverse families. The key questions addressed include: 1) What factors affect linguistically diverse families' access to early care and education programs?; 2) What do we know…

This study examined the effect of participation in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program on the school readiness of children born to teenage mothers versus children born to traditional-age mothers participating in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program. A 45-item survey was collected from the…

Most of the authors in this issue of "Future of Children" focus on a single strategy for helping both adults and children that could become a component of two-generation programs. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, on the other hand, look at actual programs with an explicit two-generation focus that have been tried in the…

The human brain develops rapidly in the first five years of life. High-quality early learning experiences can have a profound and lasting positive effect on young children during these years, setting the stage for success in kindergarten and beyond. This is especially true for young children with high needs who are from low-income families; who…

This paper presents an overview of the Head Start program. Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act), $1 billion will be provided to the Office of Head Start to promote the school readiness of low-income children, including children on federally-recognized reservations and children of migratory farm workers, by enhancing…

The purpose of the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program is to improve the quality of early learning and development and close the achievement gap for children with high needs. The RTT-ELC grant competition focuses on improving early learning and development for young children by supporting States' efforts to increase the…

In February 2007, First 5 LA contracted with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. (MPR) and its subcontractors, Juarez and Associates, American Institutes for Research (AIR), and Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research (BEAR) Center, to conduct the First 5 LA/LAUP Universal Preschool Child Outcomes Study (UPCOS). The authors conducted the study…

The Bridge To School Program was designed to supplement and extend the scope of an ongoing early childhood developmental program, the "Readiness Program", by providing individualized attention and instruction to specially selected seriously learning disabled children between the ages of 5 and 7 in order to facilitate the development of…

KIDS COUNT, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the United States. By providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all…

Goal 1 of the 6 national education goals established by President Bush and the nation's governors states that by the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn. This document provides schools and communities with information about what children need to be able to start school ready to learn and gives examples of…

This document presents congressional testimony regarding effective early childhood education. Opening statements presented by Representatives Michael Castle and Dale Kildee focused on the need to examine the effectiveness of early childhood programs and address the "pre-achievement gap" between disadvantaged and advantaged preschoolers.…

Noting that communities and states all across America are working to achieve the first National Education Goal--by the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn--this paper provides information on efforts to meet that goal. The first portion of the paper presents a definition of readiness to learn devised by the Education…

This introductory packet discusses early development and learning, and summarizes the research base for early childhood interventions. The packet also examines implications for school readiness, identifies good practice to promote healthy early development and address barriers, and presents resources and references. The packet's introductory…

This report compiles 6 of the 12 papers commissioned for the first Kauffman Early Education Exchange Conference in November 2001 that present the latest findings on the importance of social and emotional aspects of school readiness. The papers also provide evidence of programs that help to prepare young children for early school success. An…