This study investigated the impact of parental involvement on school readiness, focusing on the mediating role of preschoolers' self-efficacy. The research utilized a cross-sectional survey design with 1,000 preschool children from seven public kindergartens in Beijing, China. Structural equation modelling was employed for data analysis. The…

The transition to five-year-old kindergarten is a pivotal time in children's development, setting the tone for the children's and their families' subsequent formal education experiences. Establishing connections between home and school is a key to creating a supportive learning environment for every child. This dissertation examines how home…

Families face challenging decisions about early care and education (ECE) for their children. Decisions about what is best for each child and family are constrained by family and contextual factors and are prone to disruptions. This study provides a descriptive look at patterns of ECE settings children were in the year prior to kindergarten,…

Children's early school experiences shape their learning in future years. The transition from pre-kindergarten, or pre-K, to kindergarten is particularly important. This critical time builds the foundation for children's academic, behavioral and social-emotional skills, as well as families' relationships with their child's teachers for years to…

This article reports on a narrative inquiry (NI) of two Norwegian polyamorous families regarding their encounters with their children's kindergartens. NI as a theory and method is employed, along with discourse theory, to understand the experiences of these polyfamilies in Norway. Norway has declared its institutions to be discrimination-free but…

Effective transitions to kindergarten engage families and ease children into new environments. Countdown to Kindergarten (CTK), a program in a southeastern U.S. state that serves more than 1,000 children each year and is grounded in Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, partners kindergarten teachers and families to facilitate effective…

Question asked in a preschool/primary teacher PD session on read-alouds: "After our Family Night presentation on home read-alouds, we got so many questions from families and caretakers. How can we give follow-up support?" This teaching guide suggests three simple ideas for supporting parent home-read-alouds with preschool, kindergarten,…

Background: The importance of parental beliefs and practices related to children's school readiness skills is widely documented, but few studies explicitly focus on immigrant families. Further, no known studies have examined immigrant parents' beliefs about what skills children need to be successful in kindergarten. Objectives: The overarching aim…

While play-based learning is important for a high quality early education, only when teachers are confident and competent in enacting play-based learning in their everyday practice are expected benefits of play-based learning for whole-child development realized. A sample of 592 early childhood educators who assumed different job titles in Hong…

Many school districts provide one-time transition events to help students prepare for the rigors of kindergarten; yet, research shows families desire additional information and opportunities to help their children thrive once school begins. Researchers for this study interviewed 39 parents whose children participated in a three-week structured…

This single qualitative case study explored teacher and parent perceptions of the kindergarten transition program at a small, rural school district in a Midwestern state. Thirteen subjects met the criteria of either being a kindergarten transition teacher or a parent of an incoming kindergarten student and participated in this study. Data was…

Caregiver engagement has been a topic of study due to the resulting benefits regarding student's school experience. Students are better prepared to transition to kindergarten, receive higher test scores, increase attendance, and report fewer discipline problems when caregivers work collaboratively with school personnel. This study addresses…

In the present study, we investigated the grouping of Greek parents of preschool children according to their beliefs about literacy by using a mixed-method approach. The sample included 147 parents of preschool children attending the 13 public kindergartens in the town of Pyrgos, in Greece. The participants completed a paper survey and 20 of them…

Parent involvement in early childhood education has been researched extensively in many countries around the world. However, there is a lack of research on this topic in Jordan, as well as in Arab countries in general. The current study sought to explore the views of Jordanian parents on their involvement in their children's education.…

As a growing base of evidence links student success with attendance, many states have chosen to include measures of student absenteeism in their accountability systems under ESSA. Consequently, school districts face strong incentives to improve attendance. We report on a randomized field experiment in which parents of early elementary students…