Due to shifts in society's attitudes toward special education and changes in U.S. federal policies, such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and No Child Left Behind, more students with disabilities (SWDs) are beginning kindergarten in general education classrooms. As a result, schools and districts across the United States have…

The relation between reading and mathematics achievement is an active area of research, and evidence in the extant literature suggests they are closely related. However, there is a lack of understanding about how their relation develops over time. Indeed, traditional longitudinal analyses have focused on investigating each domain independently,…

Student absenteeism in the earliest years of elementary school has been linked to a range of negative outcomes. Though the literature has examined numerous factors that are associated with children missing school, the role of teachers--especially at the early elementary level--has not been well understood. Given that students spend the majority of…

This study examined the longitudinal changes in kindergarten demographics and child outcomes by comparing data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey (ECLS-K) 1998 and 2011 cohorts. Results demonstrated that there were significant changes in kindergarten in general and with regard to FDK and HDK schedules between 1998 and 2011. These…

Early onset of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems is associated with persistent and more severe academic, social, and mental health challenges later in life. Understanding the factors that increase children's risk of developing these behavior problems prior to the start of formal school is important for preventing their emergence…

The early development of spatial reasoning skills has been linked to future success in mathematics (Wai, Lubinski, & Benbow, 2009), but research to date has mainly focused on the development of these skills within classroom settings rather than at home. The home environment is often the first place students are exposed to, and develop, early…

This study proposes a two-stage causal modeling with instrumental variables to mitigate selection bias, provide correct standard error estimates, and address nonnormal and missing data issues simultaneously. Bayesian methods are used for model estimation. Robust methods with Student's "t" distributions are used to account for nonnormal…

Collecting data on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer-plus (LGBTQ+) issues and the experiences of LGBTQ+ young people is essential both for enforcing civil rights protections and advancing racial, gender, and disability justice outcomes in K-12 education systems across the country. The absence of this data: (1) Is a barrier to full…

Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort (2010-2011), this study is the first to investigate predictors of kindergarten science achievement and growth across elementary school--English language proficiency (ELP), executive functioning, math and reading achievement, parent-engaged science and math activities, and classroom…

Kindergarten is emphasized as a critical first entry into the education system, as politicians and pundits believe kindergartners' success can lead to later academic achievement. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of kindergarten school readiness data should consider how it is measured and how that affects learning. Using the Early Childhood…

Working memory is an essential mechanism in the cognitive learning process. However, its definitions and mechanisms remain a topic of debate. Miller-Cotto and Byrnes ("Journal of Educational Psychology," "112"(5), 1074-1084, 2020) reported a comparison of three models of working memory to determine which best accounted for data…

Using the data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), this paper proposes to theoretically redefine and empirically capture the concept of emotional capital as it applies to students, employing five components (engagement, school belonging, grit, peer social support, and life satisfaction). The…

This study examines the associations between class size, teacher characteristics, and children's academic achievement in mathematics, reading, and science using a recent, large-scale, longitudinal dataset. Individual fixed effects models, which control for observed and unobserved time-invariant student variables, were employed to conduct analysis…

School counselors are essential staff in an education setting, contributing to student success by delivering critical services when implementing a comprehensive school counseling program. The study examined the predictive relationships of school counselors' level of grit and mindset with their activities performed in programmatic service delivery.…

Ready for Kindergarten! Survey (R4K!S) is a readiness assessment of children entering kindergarten about students' knowledge and skills within the first six to ten weeks of school. There are many interpretations of what constitutes "readiness." Vermont's concept of children's readiness is multidimensional; it includes social and…