Throughout the past decade, questions of how young children should be prepared for school and how schools should best serve them have been an important part of the national agenda. This change brief defines the problem of children's school readiness and discusses what can be done to give young children better early care and education. The brief…

The author reacts to the impending reauthorization of the Head Start program by questioning evidence of its long-term impact and making several recommendations for reform: (1) Strengthen Head Start school readiness standards; (2) Guarantee civil rights protections for faith-based providers; (3) Encourage state innovation and improvement; and (4)…

The issue of high standards and high expectations for public school students has even reached the kindergarten level of instruction. The paper suggests that the informal readiness approach can be used with a more formal curriculum in order to prepare students for state mandated testing to ensure readiness for first grade. Many educators believe…

This newsletter discusses transition and outcome issues for young children with disabilities. Topics discussed include issues related to transition program administration, staff, families, and services. (KB)

This paper contends that, historically and today, "readiness" functions as a key symbol in discourses of early childhood. Schools and teachers need to make "ready" for different children in a very different world than that in which many people grew up. The interest in the paper, however, is not only in individual difference but…

The widely recognized developmental age differences between boys and girls of the same chronological age is almost universally ignored in educational planning for children in their early school years. (Author)

Investigates the relationship between socioeconomic status and readiness for school among 49 predominantly middle-class four- to six-year-old children enrolled in kindergarten at the Florida State University Developmental Research School. Of the variables investigated (father's education, mother's education, and family income), only father's…

Examines the psychosocial and academic problems resulting from overplacement or premature enrollment of primary school children. The educational system compounds the problem by ignoring the differences in maturation levels among children of the same age. The possibility of speeding up maturation rates and suggestions for preventing overplacement…

The Screening Test of Academic Readiness (STAR) was administered to three samples of kindergarten pupils. A series of factor analyses was performed to determine whether the STAR could be used for individualized diagnosis and remediation. Results showed that two oblique factors emerged which had limited meaning. (Author/BW)

The Koppitz Human Figure Drawing (HFD) Test was examined for use in early identification of academically not-ready kindergarten children. HFD scores of children who later "passed" the Metropolitan Readiness Test were compared with HFD scores of children who later "failed." Results indicate that HFD scores are useful in…

Describes a parent-focused, home-based early intervention program known as HIPPY, the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters. Explains the program's basic philosophy and elaborates on programmatic tensions as it gains a national scope and presence. Offers an insider's view into a few inherent tensions and issues associated with home…

Beliefs about and attitudes toward child care were examined among 134 mothers, 55 child care providers, 46 kindergarten teachers, and 62 employers in 11 rural Missouri communities. Mothers were very satisfied with quality of child care services and degree of employer support. However, teachers felt that their students were less ready for school…

Examines influence of household income on cognitive stimulation during the transition to school. Cross-sectional and longitudinal fixed effects regressions are estimated to examine income's effect. Household income was positively related to level of cognitive stimulation in children's home environments across both sets of analyses. Implication for…

Explored how children's literacy skills and resources at the start of kindergarten relate to their reading and mathematics achievement at the end of kindergarten and the start of first grade. Data are from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (National Center for Education Statistics). Findings show that children…

Examined relationships among intelligence, gender, social maturity, and school readiness in first-grade elementary school students (N=125). Determined school readiness was related to intelligence and sex but not to social maturity. Found social maturity to be related to sex and intelligence. (Author/ABL)