At the request of members of Congress, the General Accounting Office: (1) developed a categorization of federal early childhood education and care programs for a better understanding of the federal involvement in achieving school readiness; and (2) determined what is known about the effectiveness of selected programs in contributing to school…

Noting that kindergarten teachers in Nevada report that many children enter school with considerable delays in language and vocabulary, this report focuses on the public support of prekindergarten education for school readiness in Nevada. The report discusses the purposes and benefit of early childhood education, examines the initiatives of other…

This paper contends that a person's readiness for academic learning should be based on his/her developmental readiness, not on chronological age requirements. Human beings develop at their own neurological rates (biological clock). The paper first cites research on a "sensitive learning period" in which learning is mastered in a more efficient…

The Hawaii State School Readiness Assessment is a critical component of the School Readiness Task Force's strategy to improve school readiness and student achievement. This tool provides annual school and system level accountability for Hawaii's investments in early childhood programs and services. This profile offers aggregated school level…

This Social Policy Report considers the importance of young children's emotional development for their school readiness, suggesting that social scientists can provide policy makers with concrete ways to conceptualize, measure and target young children's emotional adjustment in early educational and child care settings. This Report then reviews a…

This study was designed to determine (1) if there are significant differences in kindergarten reading readiness scores among children taught by traditional means versus those exposed to multimedia methods, and (2) to determine if children in one socio-economic group benefit more than others from multimedia methods of instruction. Three treatment…

With no substantial relationship between the Screening Test of Academic Readiness (STAR) and the Metropolitan Readiness Test scores and low correlation between the STAR and teachers' rankings, the findings indicate the STAR may not be an effective screening test for kindergarten pupils in a population of children with superior intelligence…

Indicates that a program for parents of preschool children that emphasized the teaching of language and cognitive skills to children was successful in improving the school readiness scores of those children. (FL)

The 1976 Metropolitan Readiness Test was factor analyzed from responses of (N=408) beginning first graders. Results indicated a single general readiness factor, consistent with prior research, best described the battery of eight subtests. This factor was invariant across sex when separate analyses for males and females were compared. (Author)

Evaluates three programs designed to prepare young children from educationally disadvantaged homes for school. (DB)

Examines issues related to the measurement of potential learning problems of young children. Looks at the rationale for screening, the instability of behavior, the use of inappropriate measures; defines the "at-risk" population, and problems in prediction. Presents a method for calculating the predictive validity of a screening measure. (RJM)

Drew on data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-- Kindergarten cohort 1998-1999 to examine kindergarten teachers' perceptions of children's school readiness. Found a strong emphasis on social aspects of learning. Female teachers valued social aspects of learning more than did males. Younger teachers valued academic skills more than older…

Issues concerning teachers' beliefs and practices about retention in kindergarten were explored in a study of 40 kindergarten teachers in one district. Teachers' beliefs and practices were found to be related. Teachers' endorsement of retention differed from extant propositional knowledge and from perceptions of other interested groups. (SLD)

The nation's teachers are dissatisfied with school reform impacts. To improve schooling, we must begin with the children--not dry abstractions such as students, cohorts, and classes. Teachers recommend that well-paid, literate older people help in classrooms, since children are arriving at school with fewer skills and less readiness. (MLH)

Examined the predictive validity of the Gesell School Readiness Tests by correlating measured developmental age and performance in 151 first-grade students. Results show a positive relationship between developmental age and report card grades, modest predictive validity for standardized tests, and low validity for teacher judgment of first-grade…