Background: Decades of research demonstrating the critical role of executive function (EF) and other regulation-related skills on children's short- and long-term outcomes has generated interest in measuring and cultivating these critical skills in early childhood and elementary school children (e.g., Bull et al., 2008; Moffitt et al., 2011). Most…

Considerable interest is directed to promoting children's success as they transition to kindergarten. It is generally proposed that children who experience lower levels of transition difficulties at kindergarten entry achieve higher academic and social-emotional gains, although this premise has seldom been explicitly evaluated in tandem with…

The present study investigated whether the socioeconomic achievement gap in academically at-risk students varied as a function of students' perceived classroom goal structures. We hypothesized that low socioeconomic status (SES) students would be more susceptible to the various classroom goal structures. Specifically, we hypothesized that high…

This secondary analysis study examined patterns, predictors, and outcomes of dual language learners' (DLLs') development in Spanish and English. Research Findings: Latent profile analysis identified three groups of DLLs: Balanced Bilinguals (54%), English-Dominant Bilinguals (25%), and Spanish-Dominant Bilinguals (21%). These groups had fairly…

This study examined the links between classroom skill compositions and preschoolers' early learning and development in the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2014 (FACES, n = 1,711 children/207 classrooms) and public pre-K programs in a county in Virginia (n = 1,467 children/123 classrooms). Results from a…

Multiple, simultaneous stressors in the family context during early childhood may compromise healthy adjustment to school, with potential long-term implications. Moreover, stressors across multiple contexts (e.g., home and school) can exacerbate the negative influences of stress on children's functioning. We investigated associations between…

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is a widely administered measure of classroom quality that assesses teacher-child interactions in the domains of Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. We use data from an evaluation of state-funded prekindergarten provided to 684 children from families with low incomes…

This study used a person-centered approach to identify school readiness profiles in a sample of kindergartners (n=1,826) from a large and diverse school district in the United States. Using latent profile analyses and multilevel modeling, we examined three aims: 1) whether patterns of readiness skills at kindergarten entry could be detected, 2)…

Research Findings: This study aims to extend our knowledge regarding contributions of educator--child interactions to child language outcomes by examining the extent to which specific dimensions of the CLASS observational tool of educator-child interactions are associated with child language abilities, utilizing data from an Australian…

According to the Componential Model of Reading (CMR; Aaron, Joshi, Gooden, & Bentum, 2008), reading comprehension can be explained by 3 domains--cognitive, psychological, and ecological domains. We examined the direct and indirect contributions of these 3 domains to reading comprehension in bilingual learners. Participants included 124…

We examined whether the early learning environment predicts children's 5th grade skills in 2,204 families from ethnically diverse, low-income backgrounds; tested the mediating roles of children's pre-kindergarten school-related skills and later learning environment; and asked whether lagged associations generalize across White, Black, Hispanic…

Research Findings: The present study examined the transition practices reported by 59 pre-kindergarten (pre-k) and 186 kindergarten teachers in the rural Southeastern United States, and asked if transition practices related to skills at the beginning and end of kindergarten for 387 children. Analyses indicated kindergarten teachers offered more…

The present study reports associations between features of directly observed classroom processes and school readiness skills across the academic year for 1498 children enrolled in publicly funded pre-K programs in a large and diverse county. In models adjusting for a range of child and family covariates, evidence was detected for the separate, and…

Early language ability is a strong predictor of later language and reading outcomes. Whilst young children with home languages that differ from the dominant language spoken in their country of residence may lag behind their peers in literacy and academic achievement, effective supports for young dual-language users may be overlooked in mainstream…

This study examined whether pre-K benefits persist through the end of first grade and the extent to which persistence differs based on outcome domains, subsequent classroom environments, and key subgroups of children. Data from 2,351 children living in a large and diverse county in Virginia revealed that the initial benefits of pre-K for academic…