This paper draws data from a 5-year ethnographic study of young multilingual (Mixteco/Spanish/English) children in their early childhood classrooms. In this paper, we focus on two of the children and their distinctive paths as they develop language and literacy. Using a sociocultural and multimodal theoretical framework we examine how these two…

This study examined literacy practices in the homes of 127 low-income Latino preschoolers enrolled in bilingual preschool classrooms. Specifically, we investigated the print-related practices that Latino primary caregivers engaged in with their preschool-aged children at the start of the school year and explored the relation between these…

Drawing on the work of Celia Genishi, this article discusses data from an ethnographic case study of young Latina/o children, starting in their four-year-olds classroom in a Head Start Program through their first grade year in a dual-language program in a public school. The children attended a bilingual Head Start program that followed a…

By the start of kindergarten, there are already large gaps in achievement between black and Hispanic children and their white peers, between children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and their higher socioeconomic counterparts, and between dual language learners (DLLs) and their native English-speaking peers. This dissertation examines the…

Many tests provide users with several different types of scores to facilitate interpretation and description of students' performance. Common examples include raw scores, age- and grade-equivalent scores, and standard scores. However, when used within the context of assessing growth among young children, these scores should not be interchangeable…

We conducted two studies to examine the effects of an interactive read aloud and vocabulary intervention on the vocabulary knowledge of Spanish-speaking preschoolers living in the U.S. In Study 1, 68 children (n = 34 in the treatment group) and 6 parents in the treatment group received the intervention in Spanish at home, and in Spanish and…

We examined whether African American students differentially responded to dimensions of the observed classroom-learning environment compared with non-African American students. Further, we examined whether these dimensions of the classroom mediated treatment effects of a preschool mathematics intervention targeted at students from low-income…

Based on the 2018-2019 Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) results, nearly half (47%) of all entering kindergarten children in Maryland displayed the foundational skills indicating they are fully ready for kindergarten. A third (33%) are approaching readiness. Twenty percent of children are assessed with emerging readiness skills. The school…

Research has shown that the school-based engagement of Latino families is lower compared with other racial and ethnic groups. One possible barrier to school-based engagement of this heterogeneous group of families might be the lack of cultural match between families and schools. Addressing this under-researched area, the current study examined…

When one effectively employs the strategies of exploratory-learning, wait-time, intervention, guided reading, meaning, and phonological-morphological-syntactical awareness-for infants and on up-to 3rd grade students-all-in a Montessori-like-learning-literacy-setting replete with semantical interactions with phonology, syllabology, morphology, and…

Given the increasing ethnic and language diversity within the United States, this study examined practices that acknowledge and promote diversity in pre-Kindergarten classrooms. Findings indicate that acceptance of diversity is a component of positive environments for young children, particularly in classrooms with high poverty levels where there…

Purpose: The authors of this study described developmental trajectories and predicted kindergarten performance of Spanish and English receptive vocabulary acquisition of young Latino/a English language learners (ELLs) from socioeconomically disadvantaged migrant families. In addition, the authors examined the extent to which gender and individual…

The primary purpose of this report is to comply with the statutory requirement that important data regarding Hispanic students is published annually and shared with key stakeholders. The 2014-2015 Hispanic Education Report identifies and incorporates the following data: (1) By school district and by charter school statewide: (a) Hispanic student…

This brief focuses on Head Start children's developmental progress and kindergarten experiences, drawing on data from the 2009 cohort of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2009). The focal population is children who entered Head Start for the first time in fall 2009, completed one or two years of the program, and were…

Objective: Relatively few investigators have explored the role of maternal control in describing the feeding behaviour of nonwhite parents of preschool-age children. The present study was conducted to examine if controlling feeding behaviours (i.e. restriction and pressuring) varied by income (middle vs. low) and race/ethnicity (white vs.…