Measurement of early childhood development at the population level has traditionally been neglected in Latin America. In this context, Uruguay stands out for having two population-based protocols: the Nutrition, Child Development and Health Survey (ENDIS), a home survey, and the School Readiness - Child Development Inventory (INDI). This paper…

Using data from more than 7000 children from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child (MoBa) study, this study explored the role of school readiness and teacher-child closeness in the early child education and care (ECEC) setting for the prospective academic and social development of children with early externalizing problems. Mother, ECEC teachers,…

Research Findings: The current study examines the relations between Chinese preschoolers' social-emotional competence and their preacademic skills, as well as the role of child gender and parental education in such relations. A total of 154 children from the northeastern region of China were involved in the study. Both parents and head teachers of…

This article examines associations between observed quality in preschool center classrooms for approximately 6,250 three- to five-year-olds and their school readiness skills at kindergarten entry. Secondary analyses were conducted using data from four large-scale studies to estimate the effects of preschool center quality and interactions between…

Head Start is the largest publicly funded preschool program in the U.S., and one of its primary goals is to improve the school readiness of low-income children. As has been widely reported, the first randomized trial of Head Start in the program's history found some evidence that it is achieving this goal. Receiving one year of Head Start had…

In the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start, Congress mandated that the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) determine, on a national level, the impact of Head Start on the children it serves. As noted by the Advisory Committee on Head Start Research, this legislative mandate required that the impact study address two main research…

The preschool years are a critical time to identify and treat early emotional or behavioral problems. Universal screening can be used to identify emotional and behavioral risk in preschoolers and fits well within current service delivery frameworks. This criterion-related validity study examined the use of a brief teacher-rated screener, the…

This study examined school readiness at kindergarten entry for low-income children whose disability indicators were identified before age 3. Data were collected as part of the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Longitudinal Follow-Up study. Children who had suspected developmental delays and did not receive Part C services had lower…

The transition to school may be particularly difficult for children with developmental disabilities and behavioral difficulties. Such children are likely to experience problems with self-regulation skills, which are critical to school adjustment. Additionally, inconsistent discipline practices and low parental involvement in children's schooling…

School readiness assessment is a prominent feature of early childhood education. Because the construct of readiness is multifaceted, we examined children's patterns on multiple indicators previously found to be both theoretically and empirically linked to school readiness: social skill, interactions with parents, problem behavior, and performance…