ABSTRACT Research Findings: During COVID-19 many countries, including the U.S., implemented stay-at-home policies that closed most schools and childcare centers. This research focuses on the home learning environment reported by parents for U.S. children ages two through nine during the COVID-19 crisis. Parents in the U.S. (N = 162) completed an online survey of multiple choice and short-answer questions

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Reading e-books is becoming common even among toddlers, but we have limited understanding of how parents-toddlers reading e-books together compares to print books. To address the gap, we investigated interactions of 30 mother-toddler (12 months) dyads, in particular, mothers’ language use, while reading both electronic and print versions of the same book. These shared reading

ABSTRACT Research Findings: In this study, a combination of variable-oriented and person-oriented statistical analyses was used to examine the links between three temperament factors (negative affectivity, surgency/extraversion, effortful control) evaluated before entry into kindergarten and the cognitive and socioemotional dimensions of school readiness measured at the end of kindergarten. The sample

ABSTRACT Research Findings: A social validity measure was used to examine 56 bilingual preschool teachers’ perceptions and acceptability of an interactive shared book reading vocabulary intervention implemented in English with Spanish-speaking preschool children (N = 334) in a dual language program model. Social validity outcomes indicated that bilingual teachers believed the shared book reading vocabulary

ABSTRACT Research has shown that interactive book reading in early childhood classrooms contributes to children’s language development. High quality interaction during book reading has been shown to be even more beneficial for children’s language development, but more research is needed on which interaction practices really work, as there is great variability. The present study investigated the effects

ABSTRACT Social-behavioral functioning during early childhood is associated with children’s academic and social success concurrently and over time. This study explored how concurrent, year-to-year, and sustained parent–teacher and student–teacher relationships predicted children’s social skills and problem behaviors across the preschool to Grade 1 transitions. Participants were 233 children (M = 5

ABSTRACT Research findings: Universal screening is the first stage in identifying students at risk for reading difficulties within a Response to Intervention model. However, there is a lack of validated screening tools for assessing reading abilities in first-grade students from Spain. This pilot study examines the technical adequacy, classification accuracy, and best predictors within a set of curriculum-based

ABSTRACT Research findings: The focus of the current study was on the frequency and type of number talk of 2.5- and 4-year-old Argentinean children and their mothers (N = 23 dyads) in shared counting-type picture book reading. The book included sets of animals in ascending order (from 1 to 9), with their corresponding numerals and the animals’ written names. A finer-grained approach was used for identifying

ABSTRACT Research findings: While research is beginning to emerge about the educational landscape during COVID-19, little attention has been paid to preschool. This mainly descriptive study examined U.S. parents’ views on distance learning for their preschool children during the COVID-19 crisis. Using a survey distributed via social media groups to U.S. parents of preschoolers (N = 166), we examined

ABSTRACT Parents are children’s first teachers, and it is critical that they understand what children need to be successful in school. This study examined the school readiness beliefs of 43 Latinx immigrant parents from the Dominican Republic and El Salvador. Parents participated in semi-structured interviews regarding which skills their children should have before starting kindergarten, how they perceived

ABSTRACT Research Findings: A constellation of social positions of difference can contribute to substantial variation among children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) backgrounds. Using data from the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2009 cohort, the present study identified intersectional typologies of cultural minority backgrounds and examined their associations with school

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study examines the development of problem behavior in classroom contexts characterized by peer interaction among a nationally representative sample (N = 3,827) of U.S. low-income children from preschool entry to first grade. Latent growth mixture modeling was employed to identify unobserved subpopulations (latent classes) with shared trajectories of change, examine

ABSTRACT Negative stereotypes about female intellectual abilities occur in children as young as 6-years-old and can shape a child’s educational path and career choice, particularly in relation to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The current study (N = 40) explored preexisting gender stereotypes in a purposeful sample of 6 to 8-year-old white British girls at a dance and performing

ABSTRACT Research Findings: In this study, we tested whether it is possible to reliably evaluate the quality of interactions between early childhood educators and children using a thin-slice coding approach. Ninety-seven early childhood educators were videotaped for two five-minute intervals: one mealtime observation and one standardized activity. Videos were scored using the shortened and revised

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Peer play interactions are important contexts for supporting early learning both at home and at school for preschool children from low-income backgrounds. The current study used structural equation modeling to examine whether teacher-reported learning behaviors in the classroom mediated the relationship between parent-reported peer play skills in the home and direct assessments

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The COVID-19 pandemic is leading to an unprecedented crisis worldwide. With schools closed, the frequency with which Spanish parents engage in home literacy activities with their children between the ages of 2 and 8 and the sociodemographic variables that influence this collaboration are unknown. The present research aimed to understand interactions among parents and children

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The home literacy environment and particularly shared reading are central determinants of children’s emergent literacy skills and predictors of their later reading development. Although the importance of frequent shared reading is well established, there is little knowledge about the age at which reading to children starts having beneficial effects. Accordingly, we synthesize

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study investigated the bidirectional relations among paired associate learning (PAL), language-specific skills and Chinese word reading in kindergarten children from second year (K2) to third year (K3). We tested 204 children on four mapping conditions of PAL (i.e., visual-verbal, verbal-verbal, visual-visual, and verbal-visual), phonological awareness, orthographic

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The global COVID-19 pandemic prevented the implementation of in-person summer learning programs designed to improve school readiness for entering kindergartners. Thus, we conducted the current study examining the feasibility, social validity, and preliminary impacts of a virtual summer learning program. Ninety-one preschoolers and their caregivers participated in a 4-week

ABSTRACT Turnover is particularly worrisome in Early Head Start/Head Start (EHS/HS) where consistency in relational-care systems and stable environments are critical quality indicators. Key adults in EHS/HS settings including teachers, administrators, specialists, and auxiliary personnel impact young children and families by providing care, education, and essential resources. This study addressed risk

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Using two groups of dual language learners (DLLs), the current study examined links between two developmental constructs closely linked to school readiness: the home language environment (HLE) and executive function (EF). In a sample of 90 children (age range = 38–70 months, 59% girls) from either Mexican American (MA, N = 46) or Chinese American (CA, N = 44) low-income

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The parental role in supporting young children’s oral language development at home is crucial for children’s language and literacy development. However, there is limited expertise in how teachers can support lower-educated parents effectively to enhance their interactions with their children and stimulate the use of language. Therefore, teachers need specific knowledge and

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Effective leadership is one necessary element of achieving high quality in early childhood (EC) and early childhood special education (ECSE) programs. To date, little leadership literature and research are available for EC/ECSE professionals. Using a mixed-methods research approach, this study investigated local leadership practices in one western state in the United States

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This research aims to examine the affordances for high quality instructional support offered by the Northern Territory Preschool Science Games, alongside differences between classroom quality during the enactment of this teaching resource and the broader early childhood program. Applying a multiple-case study approach, quality was measured via classroom observations in three

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Preschool is a critical period during which children’s development and learning exert a long-lasting impact on their school adjustment and academic outcomes. Although research on monolingual English-speaking children has identified elements of high-quality preschool experiences that can serve as the foundation for teaching all young children, educators recognize that the

ABSTRACT Studies with extensive observations of real-life emotions at school are rare but might be especially useful for predicting school-related outcomes. This study evaluated observations of negative emotion expressivity in lunch and recreation settings across kindergarten, first grade, and second grade (N = 301), kindergarten teachers’ reports of children’s effortful control, and kindergarten and

ABSTRACT This study aims to validate a Korean version of the Brief Version of the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (BCAP-K) for use with childcare providers in South Korea. By employing a stratified sampling method, 808 childcare providers in charge of infants’ classes were selected for participation. Participants completed a questionnaire that included socio-demographic characteristics, the BCAP-K

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This paper presents findings from an exploratory study to define associations between social–emotional teaching practices and teacher characteristics through a person-centered approach. The sample consisted of 97 teachers working in center-based early childhood education settings with young children ages 2–5 in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. We analyzed teachers’ observed classroom

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The study explored everyday parenting behaviors and their relations to parents’ involvement in their children’s digital activities during the COVID-19 lockdown, among Israeli Jewish and Arab parents of young children. We studied parents’ behaviors through the prism of the Parenting Pentagon Model (PPM), which integrates five constructs of daily parenting behaviors that are

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The Classroom Assessment Scoring System Toddler (CLASS-T) is one of the most commonly used measures to assess the quality of teacher-child interactions in toddler classrooms. Despite widespread use of the CLASS-T, few studies have examined the factor structure of the CLASS-T for use in Early Head Start (EHS) and subsidized child care programs serving children from low-income

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Many policy efforts designed to improve the quality of early care and education (ECE) settings in the United States have focused on increasing teachers’ education levels, despite the weak evidence linking education to quality. Much of this evidence comes from studies with single-sector samples (e.g., only child care, Head Start, or state pre-k) and typically does not include

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The present study examined patterns of executive function (EF) development among socio-demographically diverse children in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Using nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort: 2011, we estimated children’s growth in working memory and cognitive flexibility across four socio-demographic

ABSTRACT Research Findings: The goal of this study was to investigate the role of play behaviors in the links between child shyness and teacher-child relationship quality in preschool. Participants were 212 (102 girls) young children (M = 58.32 months, SD = 10.72) recruited from 10 classrooms in three preschools in central Italy. Parents evaluated children’s shyness and teachers rated their relationships

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study aimed to investigate the developmental path of social skills in early childhood, the associated predictors, and its impact on later school performance. This prospective longitudinal study included 2,121 children, ages 3–5 at baseline, from the general population in a mid-sized Swedish municipality. Results show both stability and change in social skills. Stable

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Children’s readiness to handle the expectations of elementary school depends heavily on their self-regulation skills. Self-regulation includes both cognitive and behavioral elements; however, past studies have typically looked at cognitive and behavioral self-regulation in isolation or as a composite score rather than examining self-regulation profiles. Conceptually, a profile

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Evidence suggests that teachers are effective at improving the social and emotional readiness of low-income children. However, few measures are available to assess teachers’ use of specific social-emotional practices within their classrooms. This paper compares an observational measure of teachers’ social-emotional practices, the Adapted Teacher Style Rating Scale (TSRS)

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study used the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to examine barriers to teachers’ implementation of a supplemental academic language curricula. Despite high satisfaction with this scripted curriculum, three past studies indicated heterogeneity in teachers’ fidelity of implementing the curriculum as well as difficulty going off script. Thus, our goal was to identify

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study used data from a large-scale kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) to understand how well two state screening measures, administered at school entry, predicted the first-grade reading outcomes of a large sample of first-time kindergarteners (N=5,480) at high risk for future reading failure. We examined young children’s emergent literacy and behavioral self-regulation

ABSTRACT Early writing is a foundational component of emergent literacy. Despite recent increases in early writing research, studies often narrowly focus on transcription (i.e., letter and/or name writing, spelling) to the exclusion of their ability to compose or generate ideas and translate into writing. Research investigating composing approaches it in disparate ways without clear conceptual, empirical

(2021). Special Issue Proposals Wanted. Early Education and Development: Vol. 32, Developing Culturally and Developmentally Appropriate Early STEM Learning Experiences guest edited by Hui Li, Anne Forbes, and Weipeng Yang, pp. 188-188.

Research Findings: In order to investigate the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on preschooler’s social-emotional learning skills, the present pre-post test pilot study assessed prosocia...

This study examined teacher characteristics associated with the fidelity of implementation of a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, known as Settle Your Glitter. Prekindergarten through fir...

Many school districts face the empirical challenge of monitoring program quality to assure that all children experience pre-K environments that foster early learning and development. Factors that a...

The present investigation examined the links between preschool teachers’ self-reported emotional exhaustion (n = 117) with the quality of their classroom interactions and the dosage and rigor of th...

In the U.S., one-third of preschool children attend programs run by childcare centers. Childcare centers are generally isolated and under-resourced businesses, often challenged by high rates of tea...

Home-based early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a popular form of small-group ECEC, with potential to facilitate high-quality conversations during shared book reading. To investigate how ho...

Research Findings: We examined low-income children’s temperament (regulatory and reactive) as a predictor of their self-regulation, and teacher-child relationship (closeness and conflict) as a mode...

This study investigated whether two educational strategies, providing material and active adult support during play, promote pretend play quality in a group of preschoolers. The sample consisted of...

Research Findings: Parent involvement is a critical way for children to learn about the importance of education and develop reading skills. Unfortunately, not all low-income parents are able to be ...

Research Findings: This study provides a framework for categorizing one subset of the large and heterogeneous group of home-based child care providers, unlisted paid providers. We analyzed data on ...

Developing strong language and communication skills in the first years of life provides young children with a foundation for a number of positive outcomes, including school readiness, early literac...

Research Findings: A substantial body of research has demonstrated social and academic benefits of sociodramatic play (SDP) for young children. However, substantially less research has explored the...

Research Findings. The Scottish government is in the process of transforming their early childhood learning and care landscape by doubling the number of free hours of childcare for families and by ...

Various cross-disciplinary STEM learning activities were implemented in the early childhood context. Young children and their parents had rather positive attitudes towards STEM learning. In additio...

ABSTRACT Early care and education (ECE) professionals’ social and emotional well-being has emerged as an area of focus for improving program quality. ECE professionals are experiencing increasing levels of stress and burnout, which is threatening the quality of early childhood education and care. This article introduces the special issue devoted to understanding early childhood professionals’ social

Using a sample of 568 students from 61 kindergarten classrooms whose primary caregivers completed a questionnaire describing their child’s early childhood education and care (ECEC) by year from bir...

This study examined performance on self-regulatory tasks, in addition to individual characteristics including cognitive ability, receptive and expressive language skills, planning, and behaviour as...

The amount of time and type of program that children experience in early childhood settings may be associated with children’s kindergarten-entry skills, or kindergarten readiness. Taking a person-c...

Promoting inhibitory control in preschoolers could increase the likelihood of positive developmental trajectories. Nevertheless, to date only a limited number of studies have focused on inhibitory ...

This study investigated the effect of moral stories on children’s honesty during a temptation resistance paradigm in a large sample of 3 to 6-year-olds (N = 296). Both children and their parents we...