A southeastern state engaged in a systematic landscape study to identify needs and priorities for young children and their families. Early childhood and research methods experts, representing five Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), along with equity and family engagement experts developed three strategies to collect data from various…

Achievement gaps in learning can be identified as early as entry into kindergarten. This longitudinal study explored reading outcomes of 60 students over the course of five years to determine the impact of an additional year of school prior to kindergarten. The program was created to provide alternative options for students who attended preschool…

Researchers have long traced achievement gaps in the elementary years back to readiness gaps at the start of kindergarten. Educators seeking to address these gaps, which are associated with race and ethnicity, home language, disability status, and indicators of economic disadvantage, need systematic ways to identify which children need what kinds…

The Ready for School, Ready for Life initiative in Guilford County, North Carolina, aims to support interconnected programs and services for young children and their families with the goal of having children enter kindergarten ready for learning. The initiative aims to strengthen connections among existing programs in Guilford County and provide…

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…

Self-regulation and academic skills in kindergarten are strong predictors of later achievement. However, many children enter kindergarten without adequate levels of these skills, often because of limited participation in early childhood education. The current study examined a kindergarten readiness summer program (Bridge to Kindergarten; B2K) that…

Although 3-year-olds in the United States may attend prekindergarten prior to formal school entry in kindergarten, few investigations focus on the socioemotional foundations of classroom learning at age 3 and their relationship to later achievement. This study examined the relationship between age 3 readiness for group-based learning, modeled as…

This report provides an overview of kindergarten readiness of six Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) kindergarten cohorts from the 2014-15 to the 2019-20 school year. This report is accompanied by the Digest of City Schools Kindergarten Statistics, 2022 Edition (Baltimore Education Research Consortium [BERC], 2022), which provides…

This digest provides descriptive, aggregated statistics related to the experiences of six cohorts of kindergartners who were enrolled in Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) from the 2014-15 school year through the 2019-20 school year which is the most recent available. Multiple indicators of kindergarten readiness and outcomes, including…

Research Findings: Head Start teachers completed brief rating scales measuring the social-emotional competence and approaches to learning of preschool children (total N = 164; 14% Hispanic American, 30% African American, 56% Caucasian; 56% girls). Head Start lead and assistant teacher ratings on both scales demonstrated strong internal consistency…

Over the past few decades, instructional policy supports -- encompassing standards, curricula, and assessments -- have featured centrally in the education reform movement. So, too, have efforts to align them. In this article, we conduct interviews with local educators with responsibility for early education about the alignment of instructional…

This study utilizes the Brigance screener historical data to make a prediction of which prior settings students will come to kindergarten not-ready. It also uses prior settings data to look at subcategories of the composite score to inform an intervention plan to combat kindergarten not-ready scores. The research concluded that there is a…

At MERGA, I presented a paper entitled "Mathematics in the Pre-School," which was a summary of tentative ventures into this emerging field. The role of the prior-to-school years in children's mathematics learning was not yet under serious consideration but an understanding of the importance of play in children's experiences was building.…

In this dissertation, I examine how two major social programs in Kentucky--state-funded preK and Family Resource and Youth Service Centers--impact children's outcomes across the state, including racial, ethnic, and economic equity through elementary school. In each chapter, I will analyze how early childhood opportunities relate to outcomes…

Despite longstanding attempts to intervene in their early social and academic development, Latino students' traditionally low achievement levels have not improved over time. Many believe success has been impacted by limited preschool participation as fewer than half of eligible Latino preschoolers are enrolled and actively benefitting from…