New data from SAT scores, the Second International Assessment of Educational Progress, and other sources show that American public education compares favorably with that of other advanced nations, despite mass media hysteria. Performance levels on academic indicators may reflect demographic factors more strongly than educational system quality.…

Several Maryland schools are experimenting with Roots and Wings, a collaborative project of Saint Mary's County Schools, the state education department, and Johns Hopkins University. Funded by the New American Schools Development Corporation, the pilot project's goals are to guarantee every child's successful completion of elementary school and to…

Describes an all-day, everyday kindergarten program in Minnesota. Offers opinions of parents and teachers, who express both support and opposition for the program. Discusses benefits relating to preparation for grades one, two, and three. Advises other school districts to institute all-day, everyday kindergarten programs. (SH)

Used ethnographic research on former Head Start children during their transition to school to examine how notions of their "risk" or "promise" as students were constructed through specific discourses and practices in kindergarten classrooms. Found many examples of positive interactions between students and teachers but also…

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…

Compared the California State Framework and Head Start Performance Standards for common expectations for early childhood education curriculum. Explored relationship of curriculum and the learning styles of preschool children. Found that High/Scope and Emergent Curricula were most compatible with California framework's objective of meeting the…

Examination of Britain's National Child Development Study data shows that children perform marginally better at 7 and 11 if they spent time with mothers or at a preschool. The British Cohort Study shows that time spent in nurseries effected no mathematics improvement and may have reduced reading vocabulary development. (Contains 20 references.)…

Argues that economic and social disadvantage experienced very early is more damaging than poverty experienced later in life. Asserts that poor children will perform better in school if the condition of their education and families is improved and questions whether the political will exists to change public policies to improve the circumstances of…

This study investigated the contributions of four variables (children's expressive language scores at 30 months of age, mother's facilitation of child language, mother's education, and group assignment) to the prediction of IQ at age 3, verbal IQ at ages 5 and 8, and reading at age 8 for 571 children of low-birthweight. Four separate multiple…

This article presents different views by various professors on the issue of college readiness. Also discussed are the problems encountered by students as a part of college readiness. The discussion stems from a set of alarming statistics about college-completion rates. While nearly three-fourths of recent high school graduates enter some form of…

We argue for the value of postmodernism in illuminating the roles or subject positions of ethnographic program evaluators. Drawing upon data from an ethnographic study of a summer college readiness program for African American, Asian American, and Anglo youth, we explore how postmodern theories can provide insights into the multiple roles of…

Assisting children with delays and disabilities to develop skills that will maximise their chances of success in regular education classrooms has become important with the trend to inclusion. This study examined (1) the essential skills for successful integration nominated by teachers, (2) the relationships between teacher perception and child…

On the surface, it appears that it should be quite simple to identify the characteristics of a child who is ready for school and then to assess whether or not any given child has these characteristics. But readiness is a difficult construct and one that has been the topic of great debate. Assessment of readiness is even more challenging. Policies…

As a society, we have refined our expectations of the education system to include a higher level of academic preparation for even the youngest learners. In past generations, kindergarten was often the first academic encounter a child had, but we have come to regard the preschool experience as essential to preparing an academically ready…

This paper investigates the concept of adjustment to school for a group of primary one (first grade) pupils in Singapore. Pupils rated by their teachers as being well adjusted obtained significantly higher grades at the end of the school year, did not require additional learning support, and exhibited better social skills compared to children…