As young children enter formal schooling, they are at various points along their individual developmental paths toward literacy. Generally, their egocentric speech is becoming more social and they are building their capacity for logical thought and concrete problem-solving. This is a gradual development and teachers can support children's literacy…

This technical report provides detailed information regarding the technical, statistical, and measurement attributes of the New York State Testing Program (NYSTP) for the Grades 3-8 Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics 2016 Operational Tests. This report includes information about test content and test development, item (i.e.,…

This qualitative research study examines the manner in which second grade girls engage, develop, maintain, and assess relationships with peers. Grounded theory methodology was employed to collect and analyze data. The study makes three claims: the institutional structure of the school impacted the development of friendships between and among…

Research Findings: Emotion knowledge (EK) enables children to identify emotions in themselves and others, and its development facilitates emotion recognition in complex social situations. Sociocognitive processes, such as theory of mind (ToM), may contribute to developing EK by helping children realize the inherent variability associated with…

This study examined the development of school-related causality beliefs which are children's generalized perceptions of the utility or power of different categories of specific means in producing school outcomes. Based on the action theory perspective, we analyzed the developmental model of these beliefs as well as the trajectories of the…

Preschoolers' inhibitory control and early math skills were concurrently and longitudinally examined in 255 Chinese, African American, Dominican, and Mexican 4-year-olds in the United States. Inhibitory control at age 4, assessed with a peg-tapping task, was associated with early math skills at age 4 and predicted growth in such skills from age 4…

The Early Development Instrument (EDI; Janus and Offord in "Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science" 39:1-22, 2007) project is a Canadian population-level, longitudinal research project, in which teacher ratings of Kindergarten children's early development and wellbeing are linked to health and academic achievement variables at the…

Using Beck, McKeown and Kucan's (2002) three-tiered model as a general framework for vocabulary, this article sheds light on the construct of academic vocabulary and how it might be measured. Using illustrative writing samples of student work of different genres and drawing on corpus based studies, I highlight the distinction between general, high…

This paper presents an exploratory study of two consecutive reading sessions conducted in primary school by two different teachers. Our purpose is twofold. From a theoretical viewpoint, we propose a tentative set of conditions of teaching effectiveness by relying on the Joint Action Theory in Didactics. From a methodological viewpoint, drawing on…

The introduction of the Internet and its hyperlinked content made easily accessible with portable digital devices like smart phones and tablets, posed challenges to the traditional linear and print-oriented notions of what it means to read and write. Now that these traditional notions of read and write literacy have been breached by these…

Imagination has been described as a cognitive endeavor that serves as a catalyst for creative actions and aids in the development of comprehension skills. Studies show that incorporating imagination into classroom practice builds on children's lived experiences and encourages the creative reworking of elements that enable the generation of new…

Transaction circles weave together elements of guided reading and literature circles in an open conversational structure that supports students as agentive learners. Discourse within these circles utilizing digital informational texts assist in the development of democratic practices even in a time when federal mandates limit curricula and…

In recent years, a debate over kindergarten has ensued. We refer to the actors in this debate as "developmentalists," on the one hand, and "academic advocates," on the other. Developmentalists argue that kindergarten should be centered on child-initiated play and intentional teaching through play, art activities, and hands on…

Children from immigrant families are one of the fastest growing and most diverse groups in America's schools. This study provides a demographic portrait of immigrant children who entered kindergarten in 2010 and describes patterns and predictors of early educational outcomes of students from immigrant families. A nationally representative sample…

Despite its importance in social development, social understanding has hardly been studied in high-ability children. This study explores differences in social understanding between children in high-ability and regular classrooms, specifically theory of mind (ToM) and perception accuracy, as well as associations between individual characteristics…