This study examined the effect of participation in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program on the school readiness of children born to teenage mothers versus children born to traditional-age mothers participating in the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters program. A 45-item survey was collected from the…

Research Findings: This study investigated the association between Mexican American maternal education and socioeconomic status (SES) and child vocabulary as mediated by parental reading beliefs, home literacy environment (HLE), and parent-child shared reading frequency. As part of a larger study, maternal reports of education level, SES, HLE, and…

Research Findings: This research examines preschoolers' use of mental state terms in naturally occurring peer conflicts in the classroom to determine how children use mental state terms for organizing their social interactions. Analyses focus on the types, frequencies, and social interactive functions of mental state terms. Utterances (N = 166)…

In order to promote effective learning, individuals must feel fully appreciated within their own unique identities (i.e., ethnicities, language differences, socioeconomic status, gender, religions). Culturally competent educators employ practices that acknowledge and build on cultural diversity and that identify students themselves as resources…

Research Findings: As policymakers expand access to preschool, the sociodemographic composition of preschool classrooms will become increasingly important. These efforts may create programs that increase the concentration of children from low-income families or, alternatively, foster the creation of socioeconomically diverse preschool classrooms.…

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…

Research has shown links between motor proficiency and cognition in school-age children, however, few have explored earlier ages. We aimed to determine the association between motor proficiency and cognitive ability in four-year-olds. Motor and cognitive skills were examined in 32 (15 males, 17 females) four-year-olds (±5.59 months) using the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between motor competence and BMI in Hispanic preschool children from low SES backgrounds. One hundred and forty-eight Hispanic low SES preschool children (male = 81, female = 67 participated in this study. All children were measured on gross and fine motor competence using the Peabody…

ICF International's white paper explores how implementation of social and emotional learning (SEL) has the potential to prepare students for workforce success and positively influence student engagement and academic performance while reducing dropout rates. Self-improvement and leadership development sections of bookstores are replete with texts…

This article bridges research to practice by summarizing an interactive content-enriched shared book reading approach that Spanish-speaking parents of preschool-age children can easily use in the home to accelerate content vocabulary knowledge in Spanish. The approach was implemented in preschool classrooms using a transitional bilingual education…

The cultural competence of 13 parenting education programs for Latino families with young children was examined in this study. Based on our analyses, we make several recommendations for improving the cultural competence and effectiveness of parenting education programs for Latino families with young children. Specifically, we recommend the…

Consideration of children's emotions in a classroom provides more opportunities for improvement in children's engagement. However, the literature about emotional scaffolding in early childhood settings is underdeveloped. This qualitative case study focuses on the construction and implementation of strategies of scaffolding emotions by two early…

This study examined the relations between problem behaviors and early learning outcomes among 138 children in dual-language pre-K programs who were identified at the beginning of the school year to be at risk for difficulties in early language and literacy development. Children's expressive and receptive vocabulary, listening comprehension, and…

There were two purposes of this descriptive research design. The first purpose of the study was to investigate family literacy activities with preschool-aged children and parental expectations of their children's development and future school success as reported by Asian immigrant families. The second purpose was to observe the interactive reading…

High-quality child care has been shown to improve the academic success and life adjustments of children living in poverty. During the past decade, many American states have adopted voluntary Quality Rating and Improvement (QRI) systems in an attempt to increase the level of quality in child care. Using data compiled by the National Association of…