Children's early accuracy on place value (PV) tasks longitudinally predicts their later multidigit calculation skills. However, another window into children's emerging base-ten concepts is the pattern of errors -- "smart errors" -- they exhibit on these measures. Past research has speculated that these smart errors -- similar to invented…

Randomized controlled trials in education are necessary to keep pace with the evidence-based practices demanded by schools and the nation. In this study, kindergarten students in a school district in Indiana were randomized on the class level: The experimental condition consisted of students utilizing a computer-adaptive reading program for 15…

This paper addresses the question of how to interpret evidence on the impact of full-day kindergarten resulting from different study designs, and provides guidance on how this evidence taken in tandem may inform the design and implementation of full-day kindergarten policies. Incorporating both experimental and quasi-experimental estimates on…

The purpose of this study was to extend the research on the "Tests of Early Numeracy Curriculum-Based Measurement" (TEN-CBM) tools by examining concurrent and predictive relations from kindergarten through third grade. Using a longitudinal sample of 535 students, this study included logistic regression, latent cluster, and latent…

This article describes an alignment study conducted to evaluate the alignment between Indiana's Kindergarten content standards and items on the Indiana Standards Tool for Alternate Reporting. Alignment is the extent to which standards and assessments are in agreement, working together to guide educators' efforts to support children's learning and…

In the United States, only 2.2 percent of preschool and kindergarten teachers and 5 percent of child care workers are men. Other countries have much higher rates, but the percentage of men in U.S. early education has remained between 2 and 3 percent for the last several years. There are many reasons why so few men become early childhood educators.…

Most people agree that young children benefit academically from attending kindergarten; however, some research suggests that any academic advantage attributed to attending full day kindergarten compared to half-day programs will disappear as early as third grade. Based on the results of this study which looked at students in typical classroom…

The Indiana General Assembly increased the state grant funds for full-day kindergarten from $8.5 million for 2006/07 to $33.5 million for 2007/08. Following the increase in funding, the Indiana Department of Education and the Indiana State Board of Education requested assistance from Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest to analyze Indiana…

Everybody knows that children's exposure to learning opportunities prior to age 5 has a profound and lasting effect on their success in school and beyond. Each fall, millions of children enter kindergarten; some of those 5-year-old children have a preschool education experience and some of those children do not. To ensure a child's learning…

The Pre-Kindergarten Inventory of Demonstrated Skills (Pre-KIDS) is designed to be used before the school year begins so that teachers and staff can obtain information about incoming kindergarten students. This information is intended to give teachers insight about what skills a student may or may not have before entering their classrooms. This…

The purpose of this study was to explore my appreciation for the "constructivist theory" for which an epistemological stance is expressed as an educational ideology, or referred to as constructivism; essentially to construct one's own knowledge. Six energetic five-year-old boys from an urban public school, located within a mid-western…