Over the past decade, identifying how schools might reduce student absenteeism has moved to the forefront of education policy. Yet little research has examined whether school type itself is important. We focus on the influence of Catholic schools using data from the past decade--the most relevant policy context for addressing absenteeism. The…

Nearly one in four students residing in the United States is from an immigrant family and these children's school readiness is related to their parent's nativity and other sociodemographic characteristics. Social-emotional skills are an important conduit for academic development, yet these relations have not been explored for children from…

There are important responsibilities expected from primary school students. The most important of these are the learning of reading, writing and arithmetic. There is a "psychological readiness" aspect besides reading, writing and arithmetic in order to be ready for the school. In this study, among the first-grade students, those who were…

The article is devoted to the problem of the influence of physical activity on the development of voluntary attention in children aged 5-7, which largely determines the success of schooling. The studies conducted in different countries prove the existence of such a correlation, which, at the same time, is not always unambiguous. We studied the…

This study used data from Early Childhood Longitudinal Study -- Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) and examined the relations between children's Head Start exposure and their early academic skills (i.e., language, literacy, and math skills) in the United States. Two groups of children who shared similar socio-economic status and disability status but received…

Publicly funded center-based preschool programs were designed to enhance low-income children's early cognitive and social-emotional skills in preparation for kindergarten. In the U.S., the federal Head Start program and state-funded public school-based pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs are the two primary center-based settings in which low-income…

We examined the associations between preschool attendance and academic school readiness at kindergarten entry among 5-year-old children of immigrant mothers in the United States using data from a US nationally representative sample (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, N = 1650). Comparing children who were in preschool (Head Start,…

We examined whether the early learning environment predicts children's 5th grade skills in 2,204 families from ethnically diverse, low-income backgrounds; tested the mediating roles of children's pre-kindergarten school-related skills and later learning environment; and asked whether lagged associations generalize across White, Black, Hispanic…

Globally, governments as well as international and donor organizations are increasingly emphasizing the need for investment in effective early childhood programmes that can provide an equitable start for all children. Research is scant, however, on the effectiveness of different interventions supporting early language as well as broader school…

The increased utilization of non-parental pre-kindergarten care has spurred interest by both researchers and policy makers as to what types of care might be effective at boosting school readiness. Under-developed in the research has been an assessment of the influence of pre-kindergarten care on school readiness for English Language Learners…

Private and public investments in early childhood education have expanded significantly in recent years. Despite this heightened investment, we have little empirical evidence on whether children today enter school with different skills than they did in the late nineties. Using two large, nationally representative data sets, this article documents…

This study evaluated participation in the "Imagination Library" early childhood literacy enrichment program and children's pre-literacy and pre-numeracy skills at kindergarten entry in an urban school district. Previous studies have demonstrated that program participation is associated with greater early childhood reading practices.…

In the world of early childhood care and education, the preparation of children to enter school successfully and perform well in their learning environments has become a subject of significant interest and concern (McLanahan, 2005). The term "school readiness" is generally used to describe the process of ensuring that children are…

Relatively few rigorous studies of the effectiveness of contemporary public prekindergarten programs have been conducted despite the growing number of programs and large monetary investments they require. The study on which this presentation is based was launched in partnership with the Tennessee State Department of Education's Division of School…

Kindergarten transition is considered an important developmental milestone for children and families. Children with disabilities may be especially vulnerable during transition and may lack academic and behavioral readiness skills essential for kindergarten. Family concerns surrounding children's transition were explored in 132 students (n = 29…