This paper focuses on the influence of socio-economic risk factors and different aspects of the home learning environment in early childhood on children's language competencies (vocabulary and grammar skills). The assumption is that children with more risk factors have lower competencies, but the home learning environment (measured by everyday…

There are currently 2 principal models of publicly funded prekindergarten programs (pre-K): targeted pre-K, which is means-tested, and universal pre-K. These programs often differ in terms of the economic characteristics of the preschoolers enrolled. Studies have documented links between individual achievement in school-age children and the…

The current study examined income disparities in a comprehensive set of preschoolers' outcomes (verbal ability, developmental skills, number knowledge, and hyperactivity) and the factors that could reduce differences in outcomes between children in the lowest and highest household income quartiles. Findings using Cycle 6 data from the Canadian…

We examined the impact of television viewing at ages 3 and 4 on vocabulary and at age 5 on executive functioning in the context of home learning environment and parental scaffolding. Children (N = 263) were seen in the lab when they were 3 years old and then again at ages 4 and 5. Parents completed measures assessing child television viewing and…

This paper uses a regression discontinuity model to examine the effects on kindergarten entrance assessments of the Kalamazoo County Ready 4s (KC Ready 4s) program, a half-day pre-K program for four-year-olds in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. The results are based on test scores and other characteristics of up to 220 children participating in KC…

As part of a longitudinal study of the New York State Experimental Prekindergarten Program (PreK), several measures were administered to the four-year-old children in the fall of 1975 and to a sample of the same children in the spring of 1976. Analyses of covariance were carried out on three measures of cognitive development with one of five…

Approximately 6,500 children are enrolled per year in the New York State Experimental Prekindergarten Program (PreK). In 1975-76 a longitudinal study was begun to determine the program's impact on the development of children while enrolled in the program and in the primary grades. Samples from a population of 5,245 four-year-old prekindergarten…