In 1994, the federal Early Head Start program was created to address the comprehensive needs of low-income children under age 3 and pregnant women. Since 1965, the Head Start program has served low-income 3- and 4-year-old children and their families with comprehensive early education and support services. Programs provide services focused on the…

Why is it that some schools are more successful that others in improving achievement in literacy and numeracy for those pupils who have barriers to their learning? What is it that makes the difference for the lowest achieving 20% of pupils? Her Majesty's Inspectors visited a number of schools that were making a significant difference for…

Since the passage of No Child Left Behind, schools have been looking for resources that are proven, through research, to improve student achievement. The purpose of this article is to determine if there is a relationship between class size and student achievement among 137 school systems in Tennessee. The authors provide a review of the literature…

The purpose of this study was to explore Vygotsky's notion of private speech as a cognitive self-regulatory process and how it related to creativity measures among at-risk children. Thirty-two Head Start and state-funded Pre-K children completed the Torrance creativity test Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement (TCAM). The children's private…

In this study we examined the relationships between family demographics and level of satisfaction with school contact as possible determinants of multiple dimensions of family involvement in early childhood education. Participants included 171 urban, Head Start parents (108 mothers and 63 fathers). Results revealed that for mothers, having less…

In this article, we explore how two informal educational contexts--an aquarium and an after-school science program--enabled disenfranchised learners to adopt an identity as insiders to the world of science. We tell the stories of four youth, relating what doing science meant to them and how they positioned themselves in relation to science. We…

Background: School readiness, conceptualized as three components including emotional self-regulation, social competence, and family/school involvement, as well as absence of conduct problems play a key role in young children's future interpersonal adjustment and academic success. Unfortunately, exposure to multiple poverty-related risks increases…

The primary goal of the Words Work (WW) early literacy initiative was to prepare diverse students to become successful learners in school. Four groups of students were followed over 6 years: students from traditional Head Start (HS) centers, students from augmented HS centers (WW students), students eligible for HS but not enrolled (waitlist or…

Objective: To describe Head Start teachers' perceptions of mealtime, feeding, and overweight risk in Head Start students. Design: Qualitative focus group study. Setting: Five Head Starts in a greater metropolitan area in the Northeast. Participants: Thirty-five teachers in 5 focus groups. Intervention: Two experienced focus group facilitators…

The relatively poor academic achievement of black and Hispanic students has been a national concern since the passage of the "Elementary Secondary and Education Act" in 1963. Frustrated with relatively slow progress in closing these educational gaps, the most recent reauthorization of the ESEA, the "No Children Left Behind Act of…

Research Findings: This study examined the stability of preschoolers' peer play behavior across the school year and the relations between emotion regulation, receptive vocabulary, and the trajectory of social competence deficits. Participants were 331 preschool children attending Head Start; they were primarily African American and from a low-SES…

Few studies have examined the impact of mentoring (developing a special relationship with a nonparental adult) on educational achievement and attainment in the general population. In addition, prior research has yet to clarify the extent to which mentoring relationships reduce inequality by enabling disadvantaged youths to compensate for the lack…

Spurred by preservice teachers' perceptions that diversity issues such as poverty would not affect their teaching, professors in 1 southeastern U.S. elementary teacher-preparation program took action, which resulted in this examination of the culture of poverty and the identification of strategies to best serve children living in poverty. The…

This theoretical paper explores the use of online journaling in an educational administration program to interrogate spaces of "otherness"--the geographical spaces of cities where poor children and children of color live--and the dangerous memories prospective administrators may have about diversity. The cultures of most educational administration…

Educators today are concerned with how to effectively implement whole school e-learning strategies, encompassing technical support, digital resources and professional development. This paper reports the findings of a project, Technologies in Docklands Education (TIDE), in which we investigated the use of technology to support learning in 24…