Smart Start is a broad-based community initiative to ensure that all of North Carolina's children arrive at school healthy and ready to learn. This study examined the effect of Smart Start on the quality of child care from 1994-1996. Data were collected from child care centers in 12 counties implementing the initiative. Data collectors visited 180…

This report is the first of a series focusing on school-linked services, family support programs, and school-family-community partnerships in Rhode Island. The report provides a rationale for school-linked services as a strategy to improve outcomes for children, describes Rhode Island's Child Opportunity Zone (COZ) Family Center initiative, and…

Effective strategies for developing early childhood centers in public schools are discussed in this paper, which draws from a research-based literature search and intensive case studies of six Northwest sites. The sites represent a range of rural, suburban, and urban programs; large and small schools; and a variety of program features. The sites…

A one-day hearing convened by the Senate Judiciary Committee examined the effort to meet the needs of children entering school who were exposed to drugs before their birth. Testimony focuses on the extent of the problem nationwide and on the need for early intervention strategies and special teacher training programs. Special note is taken of the…

Project STEPS (Sequenced Transition to Education in the Public Schools) was a federally funded demonstration grant to develop a community-wide interagency process for the transition of children with disabilities from preschool to the public schools. Participants were the local public schools and seven programs serving preschool children with…

During the 1990s, Kentucky has undergone an extensive educational renaissance guided by three milestones: enactment of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA); creation of the nation's first Workforce Development Cabinet; and development of the Kentucky Strategic Plan for Higher Education in Kentucky. This report to President Bush describes…

This study identified maternal and family environmental characteristics predictive of school readiness in Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian children, and evaluated how these predictors operate in equivalent or dissimilar ways in the three ethnic groups. Subjects were approximately 600 6- and 7-year-old children of women participating in the National…

The Illinois Model Early Childhood Parental Training Program was implemented to help parents develop skills needed to foster their children's health and enhance their children's readiness for school. This report presents a summary and analysis of the annual evaluation data obtained from school districts participating in the program for the 1990-91…

The Illinois Model Early Childhood Parental Training Program was implemented to help parents develop skills needed to foster their children's health and enhance their children's readiness for school. This report presents a summary and analysis of the annual evaluation data obtained from school districts participating in the program for the 1991-92…

The purpose of the study was to identify maternal child rearing practices and socioeconomic factors that promote young children's school readiness and achievement. The subjects were 68 children enrolled in kindergarten through third grade at The Florida State University Developmental Research School and their mothers. The mothers completed the…

The Title I Early Childhood Component of Boston's Elementary Enrichment Program (1977-78) was intended to provide children (including the hearing impaired) with enriched educational experiences that would contribute to socialization skills and general readiness for school and later life experiences. The Component was also intended to provide…

The claim that the incidence of school failure can be greatly reduced by increasing kindergarten entrance age from 57 to 60 months was investigated in three related studies. In the first study, subjects ranging in school entrance age from 57 to 68 months were drawn from five elementary schools in an urban lower socioeconomic area. A total of 114…

The study reported here sought to establish the predictive validity of the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers (MAP), an instrument designed to identify preschool children at risk for school-related problems in the primary years. Children (N=338) in 11 states who were originally tested in 1980 as part of the MAP standardization project were given a…

Described are characteristics of the Center for Successful Child Development (CSCD), a family-oriented early childhood intervention program serving 6 of 28 buildings of the Robert Taylor Homes (a public housing project inhabited by 20,000 people on Chicago's south side). After an introductory section providing background information, discussion…

The bilingual Spanish-English book contains 61 learning activities and educational games that parents can use to help their preschool children develop readiness skills. The activities are generally intended to develop gross and small motor skills, an awareness of the world around, independence, social awareness, and curiosity, although some are…