This paper presents an expanded definition of school readiness that includes the skills children possess as they begin formal school as well as the ways that family backgrounds, preschool experiences, and primary-grade classrooms interact with children to point them toward school success or failure. The paper notes five dimensions of school…

Examined relationship between school liking, classroom participation, and achievement with 200 entering kindergartners. Found greater support for the premise that school liking fosters classroom participation and achievement than for contention that early participation and achievement increases school liking or identification. Found that…

Community mapping is a relatively new technique using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and scientific software to generate visual representations of community characteristics. In North York (Ontario), community mapping provided information about the influence of community resources, including educational, recreational, cultural, health, and…

This study seeks to discover whether beginning kindergarteners vary in early literacy readiness according to their county's metro/nonmetropolitan status, county-level economic and social characteristics, individual demographic characteristics, family social capital resources, and preschool childcare. Using student-level data from the Early…

Many public and private kindergartens in New York use standardized tests for admission into their programs. How parents and teachers feel about these tests was studied. Parents were asked whether their child had taken any standardized kindergarten admission test, whether they discussed the results with a professional, whether the results really…

This document reports on a symposium on pre-school to school transition that was co-sponsored by the SouthEastern Regional Vision for Education (SERVE) and 13 other organizations and that brought together over 100 educators, human service providers, policymakers and business people to share their experiences in working to strengthen the…

The 1991 National Household Education Survey collected information on children's experiences in the home; in home-based child care; in center-based programs, including day care centers and nursery school; and in school. Data were collected by telephone from the parents and guardians of 13,892 children of 3 to 8 years between February and April of…

Focuses on the identification of the developmentally young child and the exploration of appropriate placement procedures and programs. Identification of the developmentally young child is essential and can be made through (kindergarten) teacher observations in addition to developmental placement and readiness tests. These children can be helped…

The strong association established between attention skills and school performance has led to increased research in understanding the development of children's attentional processes. How attention develops during early childhood is crucial to understanding partly why children enter school with varying readiness skills. This Snapshot highlights the…

To accomplish desired results and to support more effective funding decisions, program planning, and policies, First 5 Ventura County adopted a results-based accountability (RBA) framework in its April 2000 strategic plan. This RBA framework uses regular, periodic and strategic data collection and analysis to inform a process of continuous…

This keynote address examines the relationship between early childhood development and school readiness. The address begins with basic statistical data indicative of the well-being of children in Pennsylvania and Illinois and maintains that advocacy embracing and encouraging interdisciplinary professional collaboration for supporting and…

This report was written to stimulate discussion about the potential and need for expanding access to voluntary, high-quality early childhood care and education programs in Illinois. The report compiles 13 short articles pertaining to early learning as follows: (1) "Ready to Succeed: Preparing Children for School, and for Life"; (2)…

Uses a case study of a boy's difficulty adjusting to primary school to examine how the transition from nursery to primary school can affect a child's learning experience, focusing on the child's interest in science, design, and technology in both settings. Stresses the crucial nature of parent-teacher collaboration, teacher-pupil interaction, and…

Summarizes research on the contribution of young children's emotional competence to their school readiness. Describes ways early childhood teachers can support young children's emotional competence by creating a secure emotional environment, helping children understand emotions, modeling genuine appropriate emotions, supporting children's emotion…

Proposes measures intended to help the nation meet the national educational goal of having each child start school "ready to learn" by 2000. Measures concern children's health; quality preschools; parent participation; responsive workplaces; educational television; proposed "neighborhoods for learning"; interactions across…