Research Findings: Children differ in their ability to adapt to elementary school. Yet, the family factors that foster a successful transition to elementary school are less well understood. Family cohesion as an indicator of a positive emotional climate within families may play an important role for children's ability to adapt to school. Thus,…

Mathematical competencies are important not only for academic achievement at school but also for professional success later in life. Although we know a lot about the impact of "Home Literacy Environment" on the development of early linguistic competencies, research on "Home Numeracy Environment" (HNE) and the assessment of its…

The present study addressed girls' (N=127) early numerical and spatial reasoning skills, within the context of a critical environment in which these cognitive skills develop, namely their homes. Specifically, proximal links between distal family socioeconomic conditions and first-grade girls' arithmetic and spatial skills were examined (mean…

The purpose of this study was to replicate previous research about teachers' perceived benefits of home visits to determine if they remained stable. Furthermore, the investigation sought to find out whether home visits impacted variables often associated with improved school success (i.e., school attendance, academic performance, parent…

Multinomial stepwise logistic regression analyses were used to establish the most robust set of risk factors that would best predict low basic reading skills (i.e., a standard score less than 85 on the Woodcock Reading Mastery Test-Revised Basic Reading Skills cluster) of kindergarten and first-grade children at risk for emotional and behavioral…

This exploratory study examined the contribution of the "RC" Approach over a two-year period. The "RC" Approach integrates social and academic learning in order to produce classroom environments that are conducive to learning by integrating social and academic learning. Two questions are addressed. First, how does teachers' use of "RC" practices…

This study examined the influences of the home on children's attitudes toward reading, perceptions of reading, reading habits, and reading achievement. Participating in the study were 38 low-income white children (and their parents) from nine first-grade classrooms involved in the Florida Parent Education Follow Through project. Data were obtained…

Young children were grouped according to socioeconomic status determined by their parents' educational level (college, high school, or less). Subjects were assigned tasks on sets of pictures which could be organized on the basis of taxonomic or complementary relations. There were no significant differences in level of recall or clustering.…

Although Chinese has become the third largest mother tongue in both Canada and the USA, Chinese/English biliteracy development has received little attention in educational research. This article explores three Chinese-Canadian first and second graders' biliteracy (Chinese/English reading and writing) and trilingual (Mandarin, Cantonese, and…

The purpose of this action research project report was to increase reading comprehension by using cooperative learning. Reading comprehension was a concern for the three teacher researchers at both research sites. There were 51 first and second grade students, 28 elementary teachers, and 51 families of the first and second grade students involved…

This study assessed the effect on reading achievement scores of school-recommended reading activities completed in the home by first graders as assisted by older members of the family during non-school hours and apart from the school program. The families of 90 first graders from a high socioeconomic level and small urban-residential district were…

In this seven year longitudinal study predictors of achievement for first graders were measured against actual school achievement of the same students in the seventh and eight grades. Three sets of variables were obtained in the first grade. Achievement history, family environment, and mental health were used as measures. Mental health was…

This study attempts to determine relationships between the home experience and English language abilities of first grade children from three ethnic groups of varying socioeconomic status (SES) and degrees of bilingualism. The sample consisted of 155 first graders from Navajo and Pueblo Indian communities and from rural Spanish American homes who…

This study examines the relationship between family environment and children's language ability. Language is examined on the basis of a model which specifies that the following characteristics of family environments influence language development most: quality of language usage of the mother, opportunities for the enlargement and use of vocabulary…

This study compared the sex role attitudes of 32 children (in grades K-2) from "traditional" homes (in which mothers stressed socialization toward standard cultural sex roles) with the attitudes of 34 children of the same ages from "non-traditional" homes (in which mothers stressed non-sexist socialization). Children responded to three attitude…