Compulsory schooling commences for children in New Zealand when they are 6 years old, but all primary schools accept children from the day of their fifth birthday. On any school day, a new pupil may enter the class for new entrants and become part of the school system. This article explores the creation of an appropriate environment for these new…

This report summarizes a meeting of local school officials and Head Start directors from across the country to discuss ways to improve children's experience of transition from Head Start to public school. In a keynote address, Sharon Kagan discussed the importance of transitions, the lessons history has taught educators about transitions, and…

A study was conducted at Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC), in Florida, to measure the preparedness of Dade County Public School (DCPS) graduates for the state's community colleges and universities. Data was compiled from Basic Skills Tests taken by all first-time-in-college students attending Florida community colleges and universities during…

This report provides the 1994 follow-up evaluation of the Early Childhood Parent/Education Family Literacy Project in South Carolina, first evaluated in 1993. The objective of the evaluation was a comprehensive review and analysis of program components and elements as designed and implemented by 12 pilot projects. Highlights from the 1993…

This document consists of 39 ERIC Digests, which are two-page research syntheses written by each of the 16 Clearinghouses that form the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) System. The digests describe issues, exemplary programs and promising practices, and research results related to the National Education Goals, a framework for action…

Smart Start is a statewide initiative to ensure that all of North Carolina's children arrive at school healthy and ready to learn. A formative evaluation assessed, from the perspective of local participants in the original twelve Smart Start sites, how well these process goals are being met in the implementation process. Focus group and individual…

Helping families access affordable, quality child care has been the primary focus for the Orange County, North Carolina Smart Start Partnership for Young Children. This study investigated the effects of Smart Start efforts on children's skills at kindergarten entry. Kindergarten teachers rated the cognitive, language and social skills of 39…

A workshop designed to present teachers and administrators with information on assessment issues and instruments related to developmentally appropriate practices in early childhood classrooms is presented in this guide for trainers. The workshop is process-oriented, meaning that participants will be engaged in activities that require them to…

This paper discusses the importance of collaboration across social service and educational sectors as a way of achieving a coherent and integrated system that assures that young children receive the high quality of care and education they need and that also maximizes the use of federal, state, and local resources. Section 1 of the paper discusses…

A brief summary is given of the rationale for each of the six National Education Goals announced by President Bush and the nation's governors in February 1990, and measures to meet each goal are proposed. To meet goal 1, readiness for school, measures related to the following issues are included: prenatal care, parent education, health care, and…

Providing a comprehensive overview, this guide to kindergarten screening was produced to aid Maine's school districts as they work to increase the effectiveness of their screening programs. Part 1, providing materials related to meeting the requirements of Maine's Education Reform Act of 1984, includes regulations pertaining to screening, a…

The curriculum now being taught in many kindergartens is profoundly different from what it was two decades ago. The kindergarten classroom, once conceived of as a play- and group adjustment-oriented setting, may now also be a classroom with an "academic" approach, characterized by direct teaching of discrete skills with specific…

Results from the fall 1987 administration of the Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (CSAB) to 3,203 kindergarten and 4,415 first-grade students within the Charleston County (South Carolina) School District are presented. The CSAB is an individually administered readiness test that comprises a hybrid of aptitude tests, diagnostic tests, and…

The effects of age at entrance into school on subsequent elementary school performance were studied in a cohort of children who started grade 1 in the Dallas school system (Texas) in fall 1981. Most of the subjects were born on or after September 1, 1974 and before September 1, 1975; the spread of ages was 1 year. A total of 3,028 male and 3,019…

In compliance with Section 1 of the South Carolina 1978 Act 631, the following Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) information is reported: (1) the administration of tests for first grade readiness and grades 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8; (2) the development and field-testing of the 11th grade test; (3) the field-testing of mandated basic skills…