This study aims to measure the impact of 95 Percent Group's Phonological Awareness Lessons (PA Lessons), an intervention program designed primarily for Tier 2 or 3. The study is a replication of Schechter & Lynch (2023) research conducted in the same medium-sized school district, Val Verde Unified School District, in California during the…

Kindergarten unreadiness for children in poverty contributes to an early and persistent achievement gap in elementary school that can evolve into an opportunity gap in adulthood. This study explored the effect of the federally funded Preschool Development Grant program on school readiness for marginalized children in Southern Arizona. The…

Head Start programs engage in multiple practices to support children and families during the transition to kindergarten. Children moving from Head Start to kindergarten often encounter discontinuities between the program and services they were receiving and the new elementary school environment. This paper uses multiple datasets and methods to…

In Germany, there is still a great need for research on the quality of teacher-child interactions in ECEC institutions. Especially, because social interactions and relationships are crucial for (early) learning and development (Ulferts et al., 2019). However, there are hardly any results on factors influencing the interaction quality. This paper…

Children's ability to monitor subjective feelings of uncertainty (i.e., engage in uncertainty monitoring) is a central metacognitive skill. In the current study, we examined the development of uncertainty monitoring as well as its relations with vocabulary and executive function development in children (N = 137, 52% female) from predominately…

Children's ability to monitor subjective feelings of uncertainty (i.e., engage in uncertainty monitoring) is a central metacognitive skill. The study examines the development of uncertainty monitoring as well as its relations with vocabulary and executive function development in children (N = 137, 52% female) from predominately White and…

Decades of research suggest that both Head Start and public pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs boost low-income preschoolers' kindergarten skills. What is not yet well understood is whether there are relative advantages of transitioning from Head Start after 1 year into a school-based public pre-k program for the year immediately before…

The interrelationships between math and behavioral skill development prior to school entry are not well understood, yet have important implications for understanding how to best prepare young children for kindergarten. This study addresses this gap by utilizing a sample of 1,750 children (53% male; 47% White, 16% Black, 16% Hispanic, 8% Asian, and…

Research in the United States (U.S.) documents that young Latino children whose families are characterized by demographic risk factors disproportionately lack the early literacy skills needed to successfully transition to kindergarten. Quantitative studies using comparative samples have found lower quality home learning environments and lower…

Play is a central discourse in policy and practice pertaining to young children's learning, development and well-being in many countries around the world. Dominant ways of understanding and advocating for play often construct universalising notions of children and childhood, overlooking that play is always-already culturally situated and…

A socioeconomic status (SES)-related achievement gap in mathematics emerges prior to school entry, and increases in elementary school. This gap makes implementation of demanding mathematics standards (e.g., the Common Core State Standards) an ongoing challenge. Early educational intervention is a strategy for addressing this challenge. A…

Transitions between two educational settings can bring about new experiences and expectations for children and their families. In the early care and education (ECE) context, when children transition from Head Start to kindergarten, they are confronted with different places, people, activities, and relationships. This transition also occurs between…

The mechanisms by which high quality, two-generation early childhood services promote healthy child development remain unclear. This research examined how participation in Early Head Start (EHS), a U.S. two-generation programme for children under 3, was associated with healthy child development to age 5 through parenting processes. Using four time…

Objectives: The importance of breastfeeding exposure and children's development of self-regulation, independently, are well established. Each of these domains also has been linked to better cognitive development and academic achievement in children. However, little is known about how breastfeeding affects development of early self-regulation…

A socioeconomic status- (SES-) related achievement gap in mathematics emerges prior to school entry, and increases as children move through elementary school. This gap makes implementation of demanding mathematics standards (e.g., the Common Core State Standards) an ongoing challenge. Early educational intervention is a strategy for addressing…