Young children's development takes place across multiple strands to support readiness for literacy and other academic learning. These strands include: (1) physical development; (2) social engagement; and (3) language development. This article describes some common things that can be looked for within each of these strands when children are three…

Trauma early in life can significantly impair children's development, mental health, and learning, placing them at risk for poor mental and physical health problems throughout life. Young children experience trauma more often, and are more vulnerable to its harmful effects, than older children. Early childhood education (ECE) programs regularly…

Families' social, demographic, and economic circumstances can have direct and indirect effects on children's development. Structural inequities in access to resources such as education, income, or food can promote disparities in children's health and school readiness. Similarly, children can face more or fewer barriers in their development…

This paper presents the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning's annual report for 2009-2010. Providing quality early learning opportunities in the first five years shapes a child's learning and success for life. The window to make a difference in a child's future is small, but outcomes show that the agency is having an…

Music learning and music performance involve all aspects of the individual: cognitive, emotional, social, and psychomotor. John Feierabend shows that music requires a special kind of intellectual process that is unique to the discipline. Brain density reaches its peak in a child's first few years of life; hence, as with language, music learning…

Child development theorists, researchers, and educators have long known that play is one of children's most valuable resources, vital to their social, emotional, and cognitive growth. Through play children make sense of the world around them and work through new experiences, ideas, and feelings. But in recent years, a host of social forces and…

Two authors weigh the evidence on starting to emphasize early literacy skills during preschool, discussing student-centered versus content-centered classrooms, looking at developmentally appropriate education, presenting their differing views on the subject, and responding to one another's opinions. Two sidebars discuss Project Headstart's…

Researchers examined relationships among children's television viewing, school readiness, parental employment, and the home environment's educational quality. Thirty low-income parents completed surveys. Their preschoolers completed IQ and school readiness assessments. Television viewing adversely related to school readiness and the home…

The Michigan School Readiness Program (MSRP), a state-initiated and state-funded preschool program, serves more than 20,000 four-year-olds identified as being at risk for school failure each year. A longitudinal evaluation followed 2 cohorts selected from 7 sites from kindergarten through Grade 3 for Cohort 1 and through Grade 2 for Cohort 2. Each…

The purpose of this study was to collect data from which the cognitive processes of the prekindergarten child could be analyzed. The study population consisted of 53 subjects, 3-1/2-4-1/2 years old. Kindergarten Evaluation of Learning Potential (KELP) was used to obtain data. The learning theory on which KELP is based postulates associative,…

While children are ready for school by virtue of having attained the chronological age for school entry established by the state, school readiness refers to the conditions that promote their readiness to succeed in school. Wisconsin is one of 17 states participating in the National School Readiness Indicators Initiative, the aim of which is to…

Examined cognitive competencies and motivation in economically advantaged and disadvantaged preschoolers and kindergartners over a two-year period. Found that disadvantaged children had poorer cognitive scores than advantaged children. Cognitive gains were equal after one or two years in school, with socioeconomic status (SES) differences…

Many communities across the country have set for themselves the goal of enhancing school readiness. But what does school readiness mean, and how do communities know whether they have achieved it? This research brief is intended to help communities invest wisely in school readiness initiatives. It begins by summarizing recommendations from the…

Assuming the premise that "a child has gone fifty percent of the way in organizing the thinking patterns that we call his intelligence by the time he has reached the age of four, and the next thirty percent by the time he is eight," 50 Schenectady kindergarten-through-first-grade teachers and administrators formulated a chart of behavioral…