Exploring the Features of the Self-Regulatory Environment in Kindergarten Classrooms.

Self-regulatory skills are increasingly recognized as critical early education goals, but few efforts have been made to identify all the features of the classroom that actually promote such skills. This study experiments with a new observational measure capturing three dimensions of the classroom environment hypothesized to influence self-regulation: classroom management, emotionally supportive interactions, and direct promotion of self-regulatory skills. These classroom dimensions were tested as predictors of change over the kindergarten year in both self-regulatory and academic skills in a sample of racially/ethnically-diverse low-income children in Tulsa, OK.

Exploring the Predictors of Enrollment and Kindergarten Entry Skills of Spanish-Speaking Dual Language Learners in a Mixed-Delivery System of Public Preschool.

Dual language learners (DLLs) - young children learning and developing in multiple languages - make up nearly one-third of the population of public preschool attendees in the U.S. Yet despite the large number of DLLs attending the nation's largest public preschool programs - Head Start and state-funded public pre-k - little is known about DLL families' patterns of selection into each program, nor about the relative benefits of each program for DLLs' early learning.

A deeper dive, a wider pool: Preschool benefits sustain to first grade on a broader set of outcomes.

The current study provides new evidence on the sustained benefits of preschool attendance on a broader range of skills-both academic and executive functioning (EF)-than many prior studies have examined. Using propensity score methods, we predicted children's (N = 920, M age at 1st = 6.5 years) literacy, language, math, and EF skills in kindergarten and again at first-grade (2020-2021) based on whether they had attended public preschool (school-based pre-k; Head Start) versus no preschool.

When does 1 + 1 not equal 2? The relative advantage of public school-based pre-k versus head start for low-income children's kindergarten cognitive and self-regulatory skills.

Decades of research suggest that both Head Start and public pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs boost low-income preschoolers' kindergarten skills. What is not yet well understood is whether there are relative advantages of transitioning from Head Start after 1 year into a school-based public pre-k program for the year immediately before kindergarten for children's developing cognitive and self-regulation skills. This is an important question, because in many communities Head Start and school-based pre-k programs provide competing early education options for low-income 4-year-olds, leaving policymakers, educators, and parents wondering which pathway best promotes the mix of skills predictive of success in elementary school.

Chaos during the COVID-19 outbreak: Predictors of household chaos among low-income families during a pandemic.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore whether household chaos measured during the COVID-19 pandemic is predicted by prepandemic parental and household characteristics.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered children's home environments and routines due to stay-at-home orders, school closures, and economic shocks. These disruptions have been especially challenging for low-income families who have limited resources and have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Associations between publicly funded preschool and low-income children's kindergarten readiness: The moderating role of child temperament.

Publicly funded center-based preschool programs were designed to enhance low-income children's early cognitive and social-emotional skills in preparation for kindergarten. In the U.S.

Commentary: Beyond more of the same - sustaining the benefits of preschool education - reflections on Bierman et al. (2016).

Preschool education is now firmly linked to two aspirational purposes: as the first step on a trajectory of academic and life success for all children and as wise economic policy for the nation. Both purposes are grounded in an assumption that the early developmental boost children receive from preschool will produce lasting impacts. However, efforts to identify enduring impacts of contemporary preschool programs have produced mixed evidence, leading the field to acknowledge that we have yet to adequately understand the essential conditions and processes in early education classrooms that increase the odds that children will flourish in school and thrive in their adult lives.

Variation in impacts of Tulsa pre-K on cognitive development in kindergarten: The role of instructional support.

Public prekindergarten (pre-K) programs have been a recent focus of policy and research attention, in part because of their empirically documented, positive short-term impacts on child cognitive development and school readiness. However, no studies have explored factors that might explain across schools in public pre-K impacts. The current study examines the Tulsa Public School pre-K program's impacts on children's letter-word identification, spelling, and applied problem-solving skills at kindergarten entry.

Child care and other support programs.

The U.S. military has come to realize that providing reliable, high-quality child care for service members' children is a key component of combat readiness.

The Relations between Infant Negative Reactivity, Non-Maternal Childcare, and Children's Interactions with Familiar and Unfamiliar Peers.

The present study examined the influence of children's experiences during non-maternal childcare on their behavior towards unfamiliar peers. Participants included children classified as negatively reactive at 4 months of age (n = 52) and children not negatively reactive (n = 61), who were further divided into those who experienced non-maternal care and those who did not. Children were observed during childcare at 24 months of age and in the laboratory with an unfamiliar peer at 24 and 36 months of age, where their wariness, dysregulation and social engagement were assessed.

Social-emotional effects of early childhood education programs in Tulsa.

This article assesses the effects of Tulsa, Oklahoma's early childhood education programs on social-emotional outcomes, examining teacher ratings of children's behavior from the Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention and a measure of attentiveness using fixed effects regressions with propensity score matching. The sample includes 2,832 kindergarten students in 2006, of whom 1,318 participated in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) pre-K program and 363 participated in the CAP of Tulsa County Head Start program the previous year. Program participation was associated with lower timidity and higher attentiveness for TPS pre-K alumni and a marginally significant reduction in timidity for Head Start alumni.

Double jeopardy: poorer social-emotional outcomes for children in the NICHD SECCYD experiencing home and child-care environments that confer risk.

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (NICHD SECCYD), the authors examined whether interactions between home and child-care quality affect children's social-emotional adjustment at 24, 36, and 54 months (N = 771). Triadic splits on quality of home and child care were used to examine children in specific ecological niches, with a focus on those who experience the double jeopardy of poor quality home and child-care environments. Children in this niche exhibited the highest levels of mother-reported problem behavior and the lowest levels of prosocial behavior.

The import of the cortisol rise in child care differs as a function of behavioral inhibition.

Children of ages 3 to 4.5 years (N = 107; 45 boys, 62 girls) were studied twice, 6 months apart, to examine whether the cortisol rise in child care at Time 1 (T1) was associated with (a) changes in anxious, vigilant behavior from T1 to Time 2 (T2) and (b) higher internalizing symptoms at T2. Controlling for measures of home environment and child care quality at T1, as well as for cortisol activity at T2, we obtained results indicating that behavioral inhibition moderated the associations between the rise in cortisol at T1 and child outcomes at T2 (i.

Early care, education, and child development.

Children growing up in the United States today typically spend a substantial portion of their early childhood years in early care and education (ECE) settings. These settings are thus an essential element of any effort to understand the ecology of early development. Research aimed at identifying the short- and long-term impacts of ECE experiences has a long history, the results of which now point to three key conclusions.

The rise in cortisol in family day care: associations with aspects of care quality, child behavior, and child sex.

This study examined the increase in salivary cortisol from midmorning to midafternoon in 151 children (3.0-4.5 years) in full-time home-based day care.

Toddlers' and Preschoolers' Experience in Family Day Care: Age Differences and Behavioral Correlates.

One hundred and twelve children, 56 toddlers and 56 preschoolers, were observed in their family child care settings to determine whether toddlers cared for in settings that also included preschoolers were, relative to the preschoolers, receiving more or less high-quality care and/or whether their functioning at child care appeared to be more or less dependent on aspects of the care providers' interactions with the children. Quality of care was analyzed along two dimensions: Sensitive/Supportive Care and Structured Care. Four indices of child functioning at child care were examined: integration in social activities, attention, positive mood, and angry/aggressive behavior.

Long-term effects of head start on low-income children.

A growing body of research suggests that the first few years of life are a particularly promising time to intervene in the lives of low-income children, although the long-term effects on children of the U.S. government's primary early childhood program--Head Start--remains the topic of debate.