Purpose: Analysis of narrative language samples is a recommended clinical practice in the assessment of children's language skills, but we know little about how results from such analyses relate to overall oral language ability across the early school years. We examined the relations between language sample metrics from a short narrative retell,…

This study compared the relative contribution of earliest assessment of preschool children's context-specific problem behaviors with subsequent observations of those behaviors for the prediction of later academic and sociobehavioral performance in first grade. Using a nationally representative sample of low-income children from the Head Start…

The present study examined the predictive validity of a dynamic test of decoding in which participants are taught three novel letters and how to synthesize the corresponding letter sounds into new words. One version of this dynamic test was administered to 158 kindergarten children before the onset of formal reading instruction along with…

Preschool has been recognized as an optimal time to provide behavioral and emotional supports to children; however, there is a need to examine the stability, accuracy, and predictive validity of universal emotional and behavioral screening scores in early childhood to inform procedures for repeated screenings across time. The present study…

Despite the claim by several researchers that variability in performance may complicate the identification of "at-risk" children, variability in the academic performance of young children remains an undervalued area of research. The goal of this study is to examine the predictive validity for future scores and the score stability of two…

After considering the relationships between (a) reading fluency and reading rate and (b) reading rate and sight vocabulary, this study addressed a very practical question. Can a cut score on a sight vocabulary task (1-min) predict level of reading fluency 4+ months into the future? The prediction was tested at multiple times point across grades…

Preschoolers' inhibitory control and early math skills were concurrently and longitudinally examined in 255 Chinese, African American, Dominican, and Mexican 4-year-olds in the United States. Inhibitory control at age 4, assessed with a peg-tapping task, was associated with early math skills at age 4 and predicted growth in such skills from age 4…

This study investigated the predictive validity of a dynamic assessment designed to evaluate later risk for reading difficulty in bilingual Latino children at risk for language impairment. During kindergarten, 63 bilingual Latino children completed a dynamic assessment nonsense-word recoding task that yielded pretest to posttest gain scores,…

Because of a greater need to focus on early achievement in mathematics and increased global competition in this area, emphasis is increasingly being placed upon screening and monitoring of math development in early elementary to ensure progress for all students. Although protocols for early literacy assessment exist, research of psychometrically…

Analyses were conducted, using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K) database, to compare teachers' judgment of reading skill with direct measures of reading performance for kindergarten, first grade, and third grade students. Teacher judgments of kindergarten students' reading skill significantly predicted first and…

In the present study the longitudinal relations between quantity of centre-based child care (in months) and teacher reports of internalising and externalising behaviour in the first and second grades were examined for 325 Slovenian children. The socio-political context of affordable, accessible and homogenously high-quality child care is quite…

In a sample of 195 first graders selected for poor reading performance, the authors explored four cognitive predictors of later reading comprehension and reading disability (RD) status. In fall of first grade, the authors measured the children's phonological processing, rapid automatized naming (RAN), oral language comprehension, and nonverbal…

A core assumption of response to instruction or intervention (RTI) models is the importance of measuring growth in achievement over time in response to effective instruction or intervention. Many RTI models actively monitor growth for identifying individuals who need different levels of intervention. A large-scale (N = 23,438), two-year…

Response to intervention (RTI) holds great promise for the early identification and prevention of reading disabilities. The success of RTI rests in part on the accuracy of universal screening tools used within this framework. Despite advancements, screening instruments designed to identify children at risk for reading disabilities continue to have…

Despite recent research findings that implicate a long list of student variables that predict reading success or failure, these predictor variables have not been considered in the context of contemporary models of multitiered schoolwide reading intervention. This longitudinal, retrospective study follows 668 kindergarten and first-grade students…