Austin Independent School District provided full-day prekindergarten to 5,196 4-year-olds in 2008-2009 at 66 schools. Seventy percent or more of students made measureable gains on a test of receptive vocabulary, and average gains showed growth about two times greater than that expected for 4-year-olds after a 7-month period.

Impulsivity and inattention are key constructs at the interface of temperament and domains of childhood behavioral problems, such as ADHD and ODD. A multi-method, multi-source assessment of impulsivity and inattention was conducted with 256 families of twins at a mean age of 8-9 years from an epidemiologically defined community sample. Analysis of…

In this paper, we examine the effect of income on child development in the United States and the United Kingdom, as measured by scores on cognitive, behavioral, and social assessments. In line with previous results for the United States, we find that for both countries income generally has an effect on child development that is positive and…

TO IMPROVE THE DEVELOPMENTAL RATE OF CULTURALLY DEPRIVED CHILDREN, A PRESCHOOL PROGRAM WAS OFFERED WHICH CONSISTED OF A PLANNED SEQUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULATION BASED ON THE THEORY THAT COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT PROCEEDS THROUGH MOTOR-PERCEPTUAL-SYMBOLIC PHASES. SEVENTY-TWO DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN WERE DIVIDED INTO THREE MATCHED GROUPS. GROUP A…

In a study to determine whether or not culturally deprived children develop at progressively greater deficits in intellectual functioning during the ages of 15 months to 3 years, tutors provided 15-month-old infants with intellectual and verbal stimulation one hour daily, five times a week until they were 36 months old. The subjects consisted of…

The kindergarten Learning to Learn Program was designed to help children acquire flexible strategies for dealing with challenges and problems. The pupils in both experimental and control groups were from a low income black neighborhood. The program was organized around a carefully planned sequence of language and mathematical games and game-like…

Overview: A recent evaluation of children who had participated in the Parent-Child Home Program (PCHP) as toddlers found that at kindergarten age, these children were performing at levels expected for their age, despite the fact that they had multiple factors putting them at risk for school failure. The Study: In the winter and spring of 2002, 135…

AS PART OF AN EFFORT TO ASSESS THE EFFECT OF THE BALTIMORE HEAD START PROGRAM ON COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT, CHILDREN ENROLLED IN THIS PROGRAM WERE GIVEN THE PEABODY PICTURE VOCABULARY TEST (PPVT) AND THE DRAW-A-PERSON (DAP) TEST AT THE START OF THE PROGRAM, AT ITS TERMINATION, AND WHEN THEY ENROLLED IN KINDERGARTEN. A CONTROL GROUP, DRAWN FROM THE…

THE OBJECTIVE FOR THIS STUDY WAS TO FOSTER PREKINDERGARTEN CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT THROUGH A PERSONALIZED PROGRAM BASED ON ASSESSMENTS OF EACH CHILD'S DEVELOPMENTAL SKILLS, USING NEW TESTS AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ADAPTED TO INDIVIDUAL NEEDS. OF FOUR EXPERIMENTAL CLASSES, THREE FOCUSED ON AN AREA OF WEAKNESS (MOTOR, AUDITORY-LANGUAGE, OR…

This evaluative report of a Head Start program discusses gains in academic achievement and social development of 248 preschool children as measured by standardized tests, parent questionnaires, and staff surveys. A pre- and postadministration of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) was used as a basis for the measurement of student gains…

This document reports on Phase II of a 2-year research project. The first phase had investigated the effects of socioeconomic mix on the cognitive and social development of disadvantaged preschoolers. The objectives of Phase II were (1) to continue assessment of effects on the disadvantaged subjects over a 2-year span during which there were four…

A four choice discrimination problem was used to examine imitative behavior in children matched in mental age but differing in chronological age. The finding that older children imitated less than younger children is discussed in terms of socialization. (DP)

This report summarizes Austin Independent School District's prekindergarten program for the 2007-2008 school year.

Broadly, the current study contributes to the growing body of evidence supporting the positive effects of PA (phonological awareness) interventions for preschoolers, demonstrating that PA instruction need not be postponed until kindergarten. Specifically, the current study addresses the paucity of research on PA training in preschool by testing…