Promoting the development of preschool children’s emergent literacy skills: a randomized evaluation of a literacy-focused curriculum and two professional development models

To date, there have been few causally interpretable evaluations of the impacts of preschool curricula on the skills of children at-risk for academic difficulties, and even fewer studies have demonstrated statistically significant or educationally meaningful effects. In this cluster-randomized study, we evaluated the impacts of a literacy-focused preschool curriculum and two types of professional development on the emergent literacy skills of preschool children at-risk for educational difficulties. Forty-eight preschools were randomly assigned to a business-as-usual control, a literacy-focused curriculum with workshop-only professional development, or a literacy-focused curriculum with workshop plus in-class mentoring professional development conditions. An ethnically diverse group of 739 preschool children was assessed on language and literacy outcomes. Results revealed significant and moderate effects for the curriculum and small, mostly nonsignificant, effects of professional development across child outcomes and classroom measures.     

Children’s Expressive Language Skills and Their Impact on the Relation Between First- and Second-Language Phonological Awareness Skills

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the cross-language relations between the phonological awareness (PA) skills of preschool children learning more than one language are dependent upon their first- and second-language oral language skills. Four hundred sixty-six Spanish-speaking language minority children participated in this study. Results indicated that the relation between children’s first- and second-language PA skills varied as a function of their first- and second-language oral language skills. This effect was language specific such that only oral language skills in the same language as the PA outcome moderated the relations between children’s first- and second-language PA skills. This study helps extend findings from prior research on the cross-language transfer of PA.     

The Transition from Early Child Care to Preschool: Emerging Toddler Skills and Readiness for Group-Based Learning

Research Findings: National policy today is on the brink of defining preschool experiences as essential for children’s academic success. Indeed, many children’s classroom experience begins as they transition from infant/toddler care to a preschool classroom. This study examined developmentally relevant skill domains among 36-month-olds (effortful control, social engagement, and language abilities) and tested their organization in a latent factor model of skills hypothesized to promote classroom adaptation. Assessments of low-income children interacting with a parent and examiner from the Early Head Start Research and Evaluation Project were utilized (n = 1,814). The data included observations of mother–child interactions during semistructured activities at home and child behavior assessments. Results indicated that the interrelated structure of children’s skills was best defined in a 2-factor, latent variable model: effortful control and social communication. These learning skills were related to but separate from general cognitive ability. Practice or Policy: Home-visiting programs for infants and toddlers are expected to promote children’s school readiness, yet little research has focused on the skills that facilitate children’s transition to the large-group learning environment at age 3. Implications of this model for early prevention efforts and early childhood teacher training to promote children’s readiness for group-based learning are discussed.     

Effects of earnings-supplement policies on adult economic and middle-childhood outcomes differ for the "hardest to employ"

Data from the Minnesota Family Investment Program and the New Hope demonstration were used to determine whether experimental effects of antipoverty policies differ by parents' risk for nonemployment. Using propensity score analysis, increases in employment and income were largest in the harder-to-employ halves of both samples. However, only children in the moderately hard-to-employ quartiles (50th to 75th percentile) consistently showed improvements in school and behavior outcomes. The very-hardest-to-employ 25% experienced decreases in school engagement, and increases in aggressive behaviors, despite substantial increases in parental employment and income. In this group, increases in maternal depression, reductions in regular family routines, and smaller increases in job stability and center-based child care occurred. These factors may have counteracted the potential benefits of increased income on children.     

A computer in the preschool: What happens?

Joyce Killian, an Associate Professor, is a specialist in teacher education and suppervision and also teaches computer education courses. JoAnn Nelson, an Assistant Professor, is affiliated with the Child Development Laboratories and teaches child development and early childhood courses, with a special interest in cognitive development. David Byrd, an Associate Professor, is a specialist in instructional design. The authors are all in the curriculum and Instruction Department at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.     

骨髓细胞的模糊识别

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A Longitudinal and Multidimensional Examination of the Associations Between Temperament and Self-Restraint During Toddlerhood

Developing self-restraint, or the inhibition of behavior in response to a prohibition, is an important process during toddlerhood. The objective of this study was to gain a better understanding of individual differences in the development of self-restraint during toddlerhood by examining stable elements and growth of temperament (i.e., attentional control, behavioral inhibition, negative emotionality), general intelligence, and self-restraint. Participants were 412 same-sex twin pairs (approximately 90% European American) from predominately middle-class households in Colorado. Data were collected at 14, 20, 24, and 36 months. Results indicated that higher behavioral inhibition, attentional control, and intelligence were independently associated with better self-restraint, whereas higher negative emotionality was an independent predictor of lower self-restraint. The associations between temperament and self-restraint generally appeared to be stable from 14 to 36 months.