Early childhood education programs (ECE) invest in assessments of classroom quality to enable accountability and to enact efforts towards quality improvement. The "Early Childhood Environment Rating System -- Revised" (ECERS-R) and "Classroom Assessment Scoring System" (CLASS) are two widely used classroom quality assessments…

First five years are identified as a critical period of child growth in scientific literature. In 1998, California voters passed Proposition 10 that appropriated a 50 cent per pack tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products to support early childhood development. As a result, Kern County Children and Families Commission administered over $10…

This study aims to uncover how a particular imported philosophy of early childhood education, Reggio Emilia, is implemented in the context of one public and one private preschool in San Francisco. The philosophy of Reggio Emilia is believed to be progressive and to be developmentally appropriate for children in early childhood. The study involved…

This report presents the results of the Parental Involvement in Pre-School Telephone Interview study completed by Mathematica Policy Research for the First 5 Contra Costa Children and Families Commission. Parent involvement in children's preschool programs and learning experiences is proven to be positively associated with cognitive, academic,…

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how program evaluation can be conducted and communicated in ways that meaningfully affect the education of English language learners (ELLs) in US schools. First, the paper describes the Waterford Early Reading Program Evaluation, a large-scale evaluation of a reading intervention implemented in schools with…

California has fallen behind on many key indicators of education performance, prompting policymakers to look for strategies to improve student outcomes. Among the policy options being considered is the possibility of expanding public funding for preschool education as part of a broader agenda of education reform. To provide a foundation for…

In California today, many licensed early care and education (ECE) programs--and a large number of license-exempt providers--receive public dollars to care for children of low-income families. While, a generation ago, the term "subsidized child care" carried a very specific meaning, referring to certain forms of center-based care that…

This revised Program Quality Review Instrument focuses on the evaluation of seven functional components of center-based, preschool-age child development programs in California. The components are: (1) philosophy, goals, and objectives; (2) administration; (3) assessment of child and family; (4) developmental programming; (5) parent education and…

Valencia, Perez & Echeveste (VPE) and the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI) designed a survey to capture Latino adults' opinions about the benefits, importance, and costs associated with enrolling children in pre-kindergarten programs. The objective of the survey was to gauge support for government-subsidized pre-kindergarten programs among…

To evaluate the adequacy and efficiency of preschool education, the RAND Corporation has undertaken the California Preschool Study to improve understanding of achievement gaps in the early elementary grades, the adequacy of preschool education currently given, and what efficiencies or additional resources might be brought to bear in early care and…

A SOCIAL COMPETENCY SCALE DESIGNED TO RATE PRESCHOOL CHILDREN AGED TWO YEARS, SIX MONTHS THROUGH FIVE YEARS, SIX MONTHS WITHIN A NURSERY SCHOOL CONTEXT WAS DEVELOPED AND STANDARDIZED. AFTER EXTENSIVE OBSERVATIONS OF PRESCHOOLERS, DISCUSSIONS WITH PRESCHOOL PERSONNEL, AND REVIEWS OF AVAILABLE MATERIAL THE FIRST FORM OF THE SCALE WAS WRITTEN, BASED…

This report describes the comprehensive evaluation study of the California State Preschool Program which involved elementary school children in educationally disadvantaged areas throughout California. Various test scores of approximately 6000 children in kindergarten, first, and second grade who had previously participated for at least a year in…

Enhancing the early literacy of the nation's children is now a goal shared by parents, educators, and policymakers alike. Fundamental to this goal is a workforce of early childhood educators who are themselves literate: able to become well-informed about child development, to organize learning strategies for young children, to assess children's…