Researchers have found that early math competencies are potent predictors of later student outcomes in math, reading, and executive functioning. This paper describes what early math instruction can look like and how some states have implemented evidence-backed strategies to teaching. Recommendations are given to State education leaders seeking to…

Illinois School Code (105 ILCS 5/10-22.18e) created the Full-Day Kindergarten Task Force for the purpose of conducting a statewide audit to inform the planning and implementation of full-day kindergarten. The task force may recommend that the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) consider an additional criterion when granting a waiver to the…

Kindergarten transition programs support successful school transitions for families and may reduce disparities in academic readiness upon school entry. Yet, access and participation in high-quality summer transition programs are lower among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. This study examined the impact of a summer kindergarten transition…

Developmental vulnerability in children often impacts social, educational, and health outcomes that then determine a child's developmental trajectory into adolescence and adulthood. It is widely accepted that early detection of vulnerability and implementation of targeted educational support can optimise children's outcomes, particularly when…

Evidence was generated from a cross-section of 5,375 students who were completing primary education in 2014, as well as from their parents and school heads, across 309 primary schools located throughout Bangladesh, a South Asian country belonging to the global lower-middle-income category. Though the official duration of preschool education in…

Background: The importance of parental beliefs and practices related to children's school readiness skills is widely documented, but few studies explicitly focus on immigrant families. Further, no known studies have examined immigrant parents' beliefs about what skills children need to be successful in kindergarten. Objectives: The overarching aim…

The availability of early childhood education to students in poverty continues to grow across the United States. Pre-kindergarten programs provide intervention for four-year-old students to close early learning gaps and prepare students for kindergarten. Little research exists to show if pre-kindergarten programs in Texas achieve this goal. This…

The problem that was the focus of this study is that only half of the students entering kindergarten in the United States are considered kindergarten ready. This problem is important because children who are successful in kindergarten are more likely to continue to be successful in elementary school. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was…

Young children's meaning-focused skills are foundational for reading comprehension and begin to develop prior to formal reading instruction. In this article, we argue for the importance of supporting meaning-focused skills in early childhood classrooms. We describe authentic, real-life examples of engaging preschool children in activities that…

This paper explores the term involvement in relation to children's experiences within early years pedagogy, where it is used as a marker of a quality learning environment. We explore how philosophical enquiry offers ways of thinking more deeply about involvement as a vital quality, and how this prompts us to move beyond universal and progressive…

Young children, especially those from lower-resource communities, often do not have adequate exposure to robust mathematics instruction in preschool. Well-organized and focused early mathematical interventions can help young children develop a foundation of informal mathematics knowledge and lead to greater mathematics knowledge upon entry into…

Young children, especially those from lower-resource communities, often do not have adequate exposure to robust mathematics instruction in preschool. Well-organized and focused early mathematical interventions can help young children develop a foundation of informal mathematics knowledge and lead to greater mathematics knowledge upon entry into…

Developmental science has increasingly scrutinized how environmental hazards influence child outcomes, but few studies examine how contaminants affect disparities in early skill formation. Linking research on environmental inequality and early childhood development, this study assessed whether differences in exposure to neurotoxic lead explain…

Background: One can argue that literacy practices work to produce forms of literacy knowledge and literate children in early childhood contexts. However, one needs to interrogate how these literacy practices create technologies of power that construct and normalise the school ready literate child. Aim: The ethnographic study employed in this…

This study focused on developing parent-professional partnerships in promoting school readiness skills for children with disabilities entering first grade. A mixed method was used to evaluate the readiness skills of 15 children from two preschools. The development of an intervention plan was the focus of the first phase of evaluation, and several…