Although quality center-based child care is helpful in promoting school readiness for dual language learners (DLLs), little is known about the nonparental child care that young DLL children experience. DLL status is often confounded with immigrant status, ethnicity, and poverty. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood…

When do children become unequal in reading and math skills? Some research claims that inequality grows mainly before school begins. Some research claims that schools cause inequality to grow. And some research--including the 2004 study ''Are Schools the Great Equalizer?''--claims that inequality grows mainly during summer vacations. Unfortunately,…

The purpose of this dissertation is to contextualize the measurement of the HLE for Spanish-speaking Latino families. This goal will be accomplished by using a series of HLE items to characterize the potential heterogeneity in the HLE of Spanish-speaking families as well as to examine differences in the HLE based on caregiver's language…

Children's early home learning experiences are important influences on children's adjustment and achievement in the early years of school. This study explores the relationships between parental beliefs about school readiness, family engagement in home learning activities, on children's attitudes to school as reported by parents, and children's…

Child obesity in the U.S. is a significant public health issue, particularly among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Thus, the roles of parents' human and financial capital and racial and ethnic background have become important topics of social science and public health research on child obesity. Less often discussed, however, is the role…

Research Findings: There is growing evidence that home learning stimulation that includes informal numeracy experiences can promote math-related learning in school. Furthermore, national studies suggest that children who start kindergarten with stronger math skills are more likely to succeed in high school. This study used a large sample of…

Despite the increasing prevalence of 3-generation family households (grandparent, parent, child), relatively little research has studied these households during early childhood. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Birth Cohort ("N" = ~6,550), this study investigated the associations between…

Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort were used to examine the extent to which early parenting predicted African American children's kindergarten social-emotional functioning. Teachers rated children's classroom social-emotional functioning in four areas (i.e., approaches to learning, self-control, interpersonal…

This study used Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort data to examine influences of the home and classroom learning environments on kindergarten mathematics achievement of Black, Latino, and White children. Regardless of race/ethnicity, children who started kindergarten proficient in mathematics earned spring scores about 7-8…

There is little research of Hispanic and Asian children's educational outcomes; in particular, the achievement gap between these two racial/ethnic groups has not been fully explored. The objective of this investigation is to analyze the Hispanic-Asian achievement gap in elementary school using the ECLS-K, a longitudinal nationally representative…

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have suggested connections among cognition, social and emotional development, and the arts. Some of this research indicates that students in schools where the arts are an integral part of the academic program tend to have an academic advantage over students for whom that is not the case. This study…

At the core of school improvement and education reform is an assumption so widely understood that it is rarely invoked: students have to be present and engaged in order to learn. That is why the discovery that thousands of our youngest students are academically at-risk--because of extended absences when they first embark upon their school…

We examined three questions. First, do reading difficulties increase children's risk of behavioral difficulties? Second, do behavioral difficulties increase children's risk of reading difficulties? Third, do mathematics difficulties increase children's risk of reading or behavioral difficulties? We investigated these questions using (a) a sample…

Even with increased risks, many children demonstrate resiliency and avoid being labeled for special education; however, research on risk and resilience has been problematic because of inadequate statistical models, limitations of available data, and the exclusion of key protective factors. This study used a national sample to examine the influence…

Prior research has suggested private school education in middle school and high school as a solution for the Black-White achievement gap. However, more recent research calls this solution into question. Additionally, research increasingly implicates third grade as being of preeminent importance in driving students' subsequent academic achievement.…