This paper presents the results of a study on the transition between preschool and school programs, focusing on early intervention programs for special needs children in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, and presents recommendations for policy makers in regard to transition programs in NSW. The study was based on a survey of 45 early childhood…

Analyzed Chicago Longitudinal Study data to determine correlates of preschool participation. Found that participation was associated with significantly higher levels of school readiness, achievement, and educational attainment, and with lower rates of child maltreatment, juvenile delinquency, special education placement, and grade retention.…

Even though children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be reliably identified by autism experts at 18 months, and the majority of parents report symptoms before age 2, the average age of diagnosis for children with autism in the United States is 3 to 4 years of age. Early identification is especially vital given the growing amount of…

Steven Barnett and Clive Belfield examine the effects of preschool education on social mobility in the United States. They note that under current policy three- and four-year-old children from economically and educationally disadvantaged families have higher preschool attendance rates than other children. But current programs fail to enroll even…

In 1999, the Board of Commissioners of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, joined with 21 philanthropic foundations and private funders, as well as nearly 80 community service agencies, to form a public-private partnership that would launch an early childhood initiative, Invest in Children, as a comprehensive system of care focused on improving the…

This paper critically examines evaluations of the effects of early childhood development programs in Third World countries. Introductory comments underscoring the importance of preschool interventions for the improvement of primary schools are followed by a section explaining the paper's analytical framework, which posits an interactive…

This single-volume resource provides detailed information on current large-scale and longitudinal research studies focusing on early childhood developmentthe situations and experiences of young American children. Twenty-eight studies are profiled, addressing such issues as early childhood interventions for children in poverty, neighborhood…

By exploring what school readiness means in the context of work with very young children, program leaders can better understand how they can support the lifetime learning of infants and toddlers in their programs. This book, designed for infant-family program leaders, examines the important role that cognitive and social-emotional skills play in…

Portions of this paper were presented at a research briefing, sponsored by the Subcommittee on Human Resources of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means. Results are presented from evaluations of several early intervention programs, all of which provided high quality, center-based early childhood education and…

This article considers whether the disparate socioeconomic circumstances of families in which white, black, and Hispanic children grow up account for the racial and ethnic gaps in school readiness among American preschoolers. It first reviews why family socioeconomic resources might matter for children's school readiness. The authors concentrate…

It has been acknowledged that children from poverty begin school missing many of the prerequisites for school success. The 1963 US initiative, Head Start, is the major federal program aimed at providing children in poverty the experiences necessary to start school on an equal footing with their same-age peers. This article uses data from the Early…

The paper presents the results of an evaluation research that studied the impact of a nationwide home intervention program, the Mother-Child Education Program, on both children and mothers immediately after the termination of the program and at the end of the children's first year of formal schooling. A pre/post control group quasiexperimental…

School and district administrators, as well as policymakers, are increasingly recognizing that early education and intervention services for young children have a direct and positive impact on later school performance and quality of life. But which programs and services should be operated and funded? To answer that question, this book highlights…

The papers in this volume join other commentators in noting the marked gaps in research on Indian Education. Regardless of the logistic, cultural, and other challenges that may be to some degree responsible for this gap, the lack of research-based knowledge in this area is to the detriment of Indian educators and the Indian communities within…

This report summarizes findings from the first year of an implementation study of the Early Childhood Cluster Initiative (ECCI). ECCI is a prekindergarten program in ten elementary schools and a community child care center in Palm Beach County, based on the design of the High/Scope Perry Preschool model. The initiative is characterized by low…