Due to No Child Left Behind legislation, state education officials are increasing programs and funding for early childhood interventions. Missouri's Parents as Teachers Program (PAT) is one such program that works to increase students' academic achievement in school and on standardized tests. This study explored one Missouri school district's…

Although there is a Federal definition of gifted and talented students, there are few state policies regarding identification of and services for students in kindergarten, first, and second grade. Most school districts do not begin their gifted programs until the third or fourth grade. Consequently, identification and implementation of appropriate…

Recent federal, state, and district policies that have mainstreamed English language learner (ELL) students into general, English-only elementary school classrooms have raised questions among educational stakeholders about the widespread effects of these policies. Most research has focused on the outcomes of ELL students; almost nothing is known…

Teachers require knowledge of the unique skills that each child brings to the classroom in order to effectively target instruction towards students' learning needs. Despite substantial investments in programs aimed at enhancing teacher knowledge of individual students' skills (KISS), we know surprisingly little about how KISS is distributed or how…

By the time children enter kindergarten, significant socioeconomic and racial gaps in academic achievement exist (Coley, 2002; Rouse, Brooks-Gunn, & Mclanahan, 2005). Kindergarten is considered to be a pivotal point of educational transition, as academic achievement upon kindergarten entry is associated with subsequent academic success…

The purpose of this study was to examine six early numeracy measures used to monitor the mathematics progress of kindergarten and first-grade students. Seventy-one kindergarten students and 75 first-grade students were administered the measures each week. Delayed-alternate form reliability was adequate for instructional decision making on some…

Growth mixture models (GMMs; B. O. Muthen & Muthen, 2000; B. O. Muthen & Shedden, 1999) are a combination of latent curve models (LCMs) and finite mixture models to examine the existence of latent classes that follow distinct developmental patterns. GMMs are often fit with linear, latent basis, multiphase, or polynomial change models…

To date, reports of empirically validated comprehensive intervention programs for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been limited to preschool-age children. We examined the effects of a model inclusive kindergarten program for children with ASD. Forty-one children received instruction in an inclusive kindergarten program with their…

The authors explored how classroom gender composition moderated the relationship between having classmates with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and peers' academic achievement in both kindergarten and Grade 1 classrooms. Given the behavioral and social-cognitive styles of girls, it was hypothesized that classrooms with a higher percentage…

Objective: Children from low-income families are often not well-prepared for kindergarten entry, especially in mathematical skills. Caregivers may lack the knowledge and confidence to teach early mathematical skills. The purpose of this study was to develop a parent-child activities-based mathematics learning programme and test its acceptability…

Young monolingual children typically demonstrate frequent tense shifting during narrative development, whereas older children maintain a consistent narration tense. Therefore, inconsistent tense usage in older children could be an indication of overall limited language skills. However, information regarding tense use in bilinguals has been…

This experimental research study scrutinized the effectiveness of using augmented reality (AR) applications (apps) as a teaching and learning tool when instructing kindergarten children in the English alphabet in the State of Kuwait. The study compared two groups: (a) experimental, taught using AR apps, and (b) control, taught using traditional…

The major goal of this study was to develop a game-like software application for phonological awareness training and to evaluate its role in improving phonological awareness skills at the kindergarten level, with the intention to eventually help reading acquisition in Turkish. The participants of the study came from two kindergarten classrooms in…

Research Findings: The objective of this study was to examine the student-teacher relationship as a potential moderator of the link between executive functioning (EF) and children's early school readiness among a clinical sample of preschoolers with externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Participants for the study included 139 preschool children…

This study examined the role of family-related (mother's education, depressive symptoms and child's gender) and kindergarten-related (teacher's experience, teaching practices and class size) factors in mothers' and teachers' mutual trust in Estonia and Finland. Six hundred eighteen (206 Estonian and 412 Finnish) mothers of kindergarten children…