In "Ready to Learn: A Mandate for the Nation," Ernest L. Boyer examines the challenges posed by the school readiness national goal. The seven-step strategy for achieving this goal includes a healthy start, empowered parents, quality preschool experience, a responsive workplace, television as teacher, neighborhoods for learning, and…

Summarizes main discussion topics at the recent annual meeting of the National Association of Elementary School Principals held in New Orleans. Participants discussed school readiness, parenthood education, minority achievement, whole-language instruction, and multiculturalism. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development's New…

Describes a study to determine a nongraded, continuous-progress program's effects on five- and six-year-old students' attitudes toward school, readiness scores, and mastery of subject matter. Results found no statistically significant difference in readiness scores between kindergarten students in traditional classes and those in nongraded…

Outlines the eight National Education Goals of the Goals 2000 Educate America Act and activities designed to help meet them, such as the Public Broadcasting Service's "Ready to Learn" outreach program; the America 2000 Coalition's interactive computer network; the United Way's Mobilization for America's Children initiative; and the U.S.…

Despite teacher layoffs and program eliminations across United States, extra-year programs before kindergarten or between kindergarten and first grade are booming. Such developmental retentions are costly and could lead to higher incidence of dropping out. Schools should be ready for each child. Early-grade teachers and principals must reject…

Investigated the outcomes from a transitional first grade school readiness program (SRP). Students recommended for SRP placement yet not placed did not exhibit significant second grade differences compared with the year-older SRP-placed students across achievement, related services, parental factors, or teacher rating outcomes. This finding is…

Provides examples of practices utilized by school-based family support programs, explaining how family support programs work to ready children for school. Considerations for staffing family support programs are examined, including what type of staff to hire, components of a quality workplace, and types of staff development necessary. (SM)

The relationships among transitional first-grade referrals, school characteristics, and children's personal and school readiness characteristics were studied with 223 students referred to developmental first-grade programs. Results indicate the complexity of referrals to transitional first-grade programs and identify characteristics of children…

Globalization trends are creating a new world order that in term affects the lives of children. It is importance to maintain an international perspective when addressing the issues related to children's readiness to learn. Both public and private funding are increasingly becoming available to help children begin school ready to learn, even in…

This qualitative study examined experiences of teachers, parents, and administrators related to standardized kindergarten entrance assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses of standardized testing in kindergarten. Strengths emerging from the data included consistency of information with core curriculum, and the time and opportunity to begin…

Survey conducted of public and private school districts (N=755) in New York ascertained procedures and instruments used to conduct kindergarten screening. The Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning, and the Brigance K and 1 Screen were the most widely used instruments. The majority of respondents (95%) reported that screening is…

A mother of one set of boy-girl twins observes that boys and girls use different strategies for learning. Contends that educators and child development specialists need to reevaluate the criteria they use to determine readiness for school. (MLF)

The current study examined how individual differences in children's temperament and motivation relate to attention skills in children from economically disadvantaged families. A total of 73 motherchild dyads participated in this study. Children were between the ages of 3 and 5, and all attended a Head Start program. Using multiple hierarchical…

A coalition of small high schools in New York state is challenging the notion that using standardized tests and curricula is the best way to prepare all students for college-level work. The New York Performance Standards Consortium is a network of 40 schools that have agreed to use common performance assessments as a requirement for graduation,…

The quality of the home environment is widely recognized as a strong contributor to young children's emergent literacy and social competence and to their subsequent educational success. The present study examined the relationships between family variables (socioeconomic status (SES), social risk factors, and home learning variables) and children's…