A study explores the concurrent and longitudinal effects of parenting practice on children's academic achievement in 2,247 African American families using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999. Results show that parental expectations of children's highest educational attainment and parental beliefs in…

We demonstrate graphical and analytical methods for multilevel (2- and 3-level) models using the analysis of observed microsocial interaction between parent-child dyads as an example. We also present multilevel path diagrams and argue that while not as compact as equations, path diagrams may communicate results better to a wider audience. The…

Goal: Educators believe that parents can help their children learn to read. But what evidence supports this belief? And if parent involvement does matter, what kinds of parent involvement are most efficient? The goal of this report was to review the scientific literature on parent involvement in the acquisition of reading from kindergarten to…

Background: Research has focused on maternal dysphoria and child adjustment. However, family process models indicate gaps in the study of paternal dysphoria, broader family functioning, and diverse child outcomes. Method: A community sample of 235 mothers and fathers of kindergarten children completed measures of depressive symptoms, family…

Understanding the Early Years (UEY) is a national research initiative. It provides communities with information to enable them to make informed decisions about the best policies and most appropriate programs for families with young children. It seeks to provide information about the influence of community factors on children's early development…

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…

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…

The kindergarten propaganda work that has been conducted by the Bureau of Education and the National Kindergarten Association in cooperation during the past six years has brought about a more widespread interest in the subject of the educational value of the early years of childhood. This has been manifested not only by an increase in the number…