Results from the fall 1987 administration of the Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (CSAB) to 3,203 kindergarten and 4,415 first-grade students within the Charleston County (South Carolina) School District are presented. The CSAB is an individually administered readiness test that comprises a hybrid of aptitude tests, diagnostic tests, and…

This bulletin is concerned with how children learn to read. It describes as simply as possible the teacher's part in the reading experiences children have, and the ways parents can help in making the learning-to-read years of the child's life both happy and successful. Learning to read is not limited to the first grade. During each year a child…

Describes ways in which well-intentioned efforts to protect young children from inappropriate school practices have had the opposite effect. Readiness testing, retention, transition classes, tracking, and increased entrance age are discussed. Alternative strategies are proposed. (BB)

This report describes Head Start preschool programs in Broward County, Florida, and examines the goals, expected outcomes, and parental satisfaction levels of the programs. It is based on interviews with program staff, federal and local reports, telephone surveys of parents of 57 randomly selected first-graders who attended Head Start in the…

More and more frequently, poor families are described in pathological terms. The emphasis is on the deficits that interfere with the education of poor children, rather than the strengths that they can bring to schooling. A focus on the devastating effects of poverty may lead to the belief that poor children are so disadvantaged that nothing can be…

Noting that the transition to school is one of the major challenges children face in early childhood, this study examined the perceptions of Australian parents, teachers, and children in various phases of school attendance regarding what was involved in children starting school. Data were collected by means of questionnaires given to teachers…

This study identified maternal and family environmental characteristics predictive of school readiness in Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian children, and evaluated how these predictors operate in equivalent or dissimilar ways in the three ethnic groups. Subjects were approximately 600 6- and 7-year-old children of women participating in the National…

The purpose of the study was to identify maternal child rearing practices and socioeconomic factors that promote young children's school readiness and achievement. The subjects were 68 children enrolled in kindergarten through third grade at The Florida State University Developmental Research School and their mothers. The mothers completed the…

The Georgia Prekindergarten Program was established in 1993 to provide the state's 4-year-olds with high-quality preschool experiences. Beginning in the 1996-1997 school year, a sample of 3,639 children enrolled in 1 of 203 randomly selected Georgia prekindergarten classes was selected for a 5-year longitudinal study. The study examined how…

Interviewed teachers and parents concerning newly developed school services for 6-year olds in Stockholm, Sweden, where the traditional age for starting school will change from 7 to a flexible 6 or 7 in 1997. Results from ratings done by teachers indicate that the new services have had a positive influence on the children's adjustment and peer…

This manual, which was developed to assist persons using the Helpful Entry Level Skills Checklist, includes typical developmental levels or ages for each skill addressed on the check list for children ages 3 through 6. The guidelines are designed to be used to target appropriate skills for intervention. Skills included in the check list include:…

This manual provides documentation and guidance for users of the public release data file for the School Readiness (SR) component of the 1993 National Household Education Survey (NHES:93). The NHES:93 was a random digit dial telephone survey of households developed by the National Center for Education Statistics and conducted by Westat Inc. For…

COUNSELING IS AN ACCEPTING, TRUSTING RELATIONSHIP DEALING WITH NORMAL CHILDREN AND EMPHASIZING THE COUNSELOR'S SPECIAL ABILITY TO LISTEN, EMPATHIZE, AND UNDERSTAND. THE SETTING OF GROUP COUNSELING PROVIDES EXCELLENT CONDITIONS FOR LEARNING. EFFECTIVE GROUP COUNSELING INVOLVES TREATMENT BY THE GROUP AS WELL AS INDIVIDUAL TREATMENT WITHIN THE GROUP.…

This study examined scores on second, third and fourth grade reading and mathematics tests to determine the effects of beginning school age on later school success. The analysis involved 352 participants in one rural school district in Western New York. Participants were divided into three groups: (a) age appropriate for entrance to school, (b)…

Examined are longitudinal impacts of Louisiana's Early Childhod Development Program for children at risk of being unprepared for school. Teachers' assessments of children enrolled in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade during the 1987-88 school year were obtained with the Early Childhood Development Program Follow-up Study Instrument, a…