In 1990, President Bush and the nation's governors adopted six National Education Goals for the year 2000, calling for improvements in school readiness, high school graduation rates, curriculum mastery, math and science achievement, adult literacy and skills, and drug abuse and violence levels. Congress faces two overarching issues--identifying…

Among the prescriptions for improving children's school readiness is a call for television to lead the way through the provision of ready-to-learn programing and services for the nation's preschoolers. No single element of a national ready-to-learn service will have a greater impact on its effectiveness than the programing it airs. Three…

This report reviews the history of kindergartens in America and in the state of Wyoming, and examines current trends and future directions of kindergarten programs. Wyoming's first kindergarten was established in Sundance in 1891-92. The University of Wyoming began offering courses in kindergarten theory by the mid 1940s, and the kindergarten…

This study examined the role of public preschool teachers in the construction of classroom literacy environments. Using qualitative methods for data collection and analysis, the research was intended to generate knowledge of teacher thinking and decision making for social and cultural phenomena taking place in a classroom. The study included ten…

As a product of the Early Childhood Subcommittee of the National Education Statistics Agenda Committee of the National Forum on Education Statistics, this report evaluates the types of data needed to assess the status of children in their preschool years, evaluate the impact of their early experiences, and address policy questions related to early…

The transition to elementary school spans several years in a child's life. For children to progress during this critical period, they must have learning opportunities that are appropriate to their changing developmental levels. Unfortunately, measurement technology that currently dominates assessment practice does not lend itself well to the task…

This study assessed teachers' opinions about the promotion of immature children to first grade. A total of 224 teachers from private and public elementary schools in Mississippi completed a questionnaire that addressed such issues as the relation between maturity and readiness, repetition of kindergarten, academic and peer pressure, and the…

During the first half of the 1990-91 school year, 446 children were served by the Chapter 1 Prekindergarten Program of the Saginaw, Michigan school district. A process evaluation was conducted to monitor the program and assess whether it was being implemented as planned. This year, the process evaluation consisted of half-day classroom…

The overall goal of this 10-week practicum was to train parents and teachers in activities that would reduce anxieties and increase skills in Head Start children in order to prepare them for the transition to kindergarten. A kindergarten preparation curriculum unit was developed and workshops were held for training Head Start teachers in its use.…

This report addresses problems associated with school readiness and offers recommendations intended to help the 15 member states of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) meet goals that were adopted in 1988. After discussing the importance of school readiness, the report lists some obstacles to readiness that are especially prevalent in the…

This compilation of extensive facts and figures on topics pertaining to America's children and families is a ready reference for journalists, advocates, and others who need easy access to data on conditions and trends. The book's first nine chapters are: (1) "The Changing American Family"; (2) "Children's Growth and…

Noting that communities and states all across America are working to achieve the first National Education Goal--by the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn--this paper provides information on efforts to meet that goal. The first portion of the paper presents a definition of readiness to learn devised by the Education…

This document describes Tennessee's 1993 Master Plan for education and the state's progress toward achieving eight of its key goals. Goals are outlined for achieving results in the areas of early childhood education, primary and middle grades education, high school education, technology, professional development and teacher education,…

A 5-year longitudinal study, still in progress, was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of prekindergarten programs in Texas. The components of the study include a statewide survey of school districts, a case study of 10 schools' prekindergarten programs, and a longitudinal study of 2,000 students enrolled in prekindergarten during the 1989-90…

This cross-cultural study evaluated the effects of nontraditional versus traditional educational approaches in kindergarten on children's preparation for first grade and their readiness to learn. Fifty children in a developmental kindergarten in Pennsylvania, and 50 children in a traditional academic kindergarten in Sichuan province, People's…