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The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) is a widely administered measure of classroom quality that assesses teacher-child interactions in the domains of Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. We use data from an evaluation of state-funded prekindergarten provided to 684 children from families with low incomes (M[subscript age] = 57.56 months, 48% female) to examine the extent to which CLASS scores vary over the course of an observational period within a single day and investigate whether this variability is related to children's school readiness at the end of the preschool year, holding constant two additional measures of quality. Teacher-child interactions in all three domains were moderately stable. Mean Classroom Organization was positively related to math, and variability in Classroom Organization was negatively related to literacy. Mean Instructional Support was negatively associated with language. Findings have implications for programs that utilize the CLASS to make high-stakes decision and inform professional development.

School readiness skills predict later educational achievement, health, and social-emotional outcomes. Measures of school readiness can provide valuable information to assess both the impact of strategies and policies that prepare children for school as well as informing strategies for improving children's educational trajectories across their school years. The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a measure of school readiness skills based on teacher-reported observational recall. It has been used extensively in Canada and Australia and is in the early stages of adoption in a number of U.S. cities. The current study uses data from roughly 3,000 children followed longitudinally from kindergarten through third grade from 7 school districts in Orange County, California. The study assesses whether EDI ratings in kindergarten predict third grade proficiency in mathematics and English Language Arts on state assessments. Ratings on the EDI were strongly associated with proficiency in both academic areas, even in the presence of controls for child-level factors and neighborhood fixed effects. Among its components, ratings on the language and cognitive development, communication skills and general knowledge, and social competence domains strongly differentiated children's likelihood of later proficiency in both academic areas. Implications for improving comprehensive early childhood education and schooling policies based on indicators of school readiness are discussed.

Introduction: School readiness skills are a broad set of abilities that children develop in early childhood that support achievement once they enter formal schooling. Three components of school readiness skills are of focus in the current study: executive function (EF), language/literacy, and mathematics. The current study examines to what extent 13 direct assessments of these skills statistically align with theoretical models for distinct construct- and timepoint-specific latent factors. Methods: The sample included 684 children (52.34% male; 42% Black/African American; M age = 4.80 years in the fall of prekindergarten) assessed in the fall and spring of the prekindergarten year. Results: Factor analyses revealed the most statistical support for a model with a latent random intercept across timepoints and constructs, along with timepointspecific latent factors in the fall and spring of prekindergarten (independent of the random intercept). The timepoint-specific latent factors primarily consisted of early literacy and mathematics assessments. Discussion: These findings challenge commonly held practices of creating construct-specific latent factors in early childhood research and, to a lesser extent, timepoint-specific latent factors without consideration of the substantial shared variance across different constructs and timepoints. Implications for the factor structure and developmental theory of school readiness skills are considered, as well as practical considerations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, we examined the extent to which teacher-rated self-regulation and directly assessed executive function skills were independently, additively, or synergistically related to academic achievement during the transition to kindergarten. The sample included 126 children (42% female; M age = 4.73 years) from families with low incomes who participated in a larger evaluation of state-funded preschool. Regression models with children nested in their respective preschool classrooms investigated main effects and moderated effects of teacher-rated self-regulation skills manifested in preschool classroom behaviors and cognitive executive function skills assessed through direct assessments on math, literacy, and vocabulary in the spring of preschool and in the fall of kindergarten. Results revealed independent but not additive relations between executive function and math in the spring of preschool and self-regulation and literacy in the fall of kindergarten. One significant interaction emerged providing evidence for synergistic relations between teacher-rated self-regulation and directly assessed executive function for literacy at both timepoints across the transition to kindergarten. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Population level measure of skills in kindergarten predicts third grade proficiency. • Language and cognitive development domain best differentiates later proficiency. • Communication skills and general knowledge also strongly differentiates proficiency. • Children most likely to be proficient have strong social competence. School readiness skills predict later educational achievement, health, and social-emotional outcomes. Measures of school readiness can provide valuable information to assess both the impact of strategies and policies that prepare children for school as well as informing strategies for improving children's educational trajectories across their school years. The Early Development Instrument (EDI) is a measure of school readiness skills based on teacher-reported observational recall. It has been used extensively in Canada and Australia and is in the early stages of adoption in a number of U.S. cities. The current study uses data from roughly 3000 children followed longitudinally from kindergarten through third grade from 7 school districts in Orange County, California. The study assesses whether EDI ratings in kindergarten predict third grade proficiency in mathematics and English Language Arts on state assessments. Ratings on the EDI were strongly associated with proficiency in both academic areas, even in the presence of controls for child-level factors and neighborhood fixed effects. Among its components, ratings on the language and cognitive development, communication skills and general knowledge, and social competence domains strongly differentiated children's likelihood of later proficiency in both academic areas. Implications for improving comprehensive early childhood education and schooling policies based on indicators of school readiness are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior evidence supports that the home environment is related to children's development of school readiness skills. However, it remains unclear how construct- and timing-specific aspects of the home environment are related to children's school readiness skills, unique from overall, stable aspects of home quality. Unpacking associations due to specific constructs and timing of the home environment may provide insights on the theoretical processes that connect the home environment to school readiness. Using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,364), the current study examines how timing (36 and 54 months) and constructs (educational stimulation and socio-emotional responsivity) of the home environment, relative to overall levels across time, relate to children's language skills, math skills, and externalizing behaviors. The overall, stable aspects of the home environment were significantly associated with children's language skills and externalizing problems. Additionally, there were significant paths from the stimulation construct at 54 months to math skills, language skills, and externalizing problems. These findings provide evidence that although the overall home environment is predictive of school readiness, the stimulation construct of the home environment at 54 months has additional concurrent relations to children's school readiness. Implications for the role of the home environment and children's school readiness are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Children's numeracy skills undergo extensive growth during the preschool years. • Preschool mathematics instruction is limited and may not be well aligned with children's skills. • Using cross-sectional data, we outline a developmental trajectory for eight key numeracy skills. • A more fine-grained developmental trajectory can help inform preschool classroom practices. Children's mathematics skills undergo extensive development during the preschool years. Opportunities for engaging in mathematics in the preschool classroom, however, are limited, and activities and instruction are often targeted below children's skill levels. Although researchers have developed general learning trajectories of children's mathematics skills, no fine-grained trajectories across a broad range of mathematics skills exist. Such a fine-grained trajectory of when specific numeracy skills develop would allow preschool and kindergarten instruction to more appropriately match and scaffold children's mathematics capabilities. The current study examined preschool children's item-level performance on eight numeracy subtests at half-year age points throughout the preschool period. Data were compiled across six studies, and participants comprised 801 preschool children (age range = 3.12–5.99 years, M = 4.63, SD = 0.68). Children were grouped into six age categories (3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, and 5.5 years). Linear regression analyses were used to investigate the number of children who correctly answered each item of a specific subtest within a particular age group. Findings provide clear trajectories of children's early mathematics skills that can be used to inform preschool classroom practices and facilitate the design of intervention studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Higher quality state-funded preschool participation predicts language in preschool. • Higher quality state-funded preschool participation predicts math in kindergarten. • Higher quality state-funded preschool participation predicts literacy in kindergarten. The goal of this study was to evaluate the effects of attending a state-run preschool program that is rated as "higher quality" on a state's Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for children's outcomes in prekindergarten and kindergarten. It was expected that children who attended higher QRIS-rated programs would demonstrate greater gains in school readiness skills relative to children who received similar subsidies but attended lower-rated programs in the prekindergarten year. However, because there is little to base a hypothesis on with regard to longitudinal associations, we had no a priori hypotheses regarding potential effects into the fall and spring of kindergarten. Participants included 2 cohorts (N = 516; 50% female, M age = 4.80 years). Data were collected on school readiness outcomes in the fall and spring of prekindergarten and kindergarten. Results suggested that participating in the higher-rated program was related to gains in language during the prekindergarten year that persisted into kindergarten. Findings indicated that children who participated in the program experienced greater gains in their math, literacy, and school readiness in kindergarten. However, the majority of the effects were generally small, albeit positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primarily studying executive functions of children from low-income backgrounds in comparison to more affluent peers can promote a deficit perspective that they are uniformly lacking in skills. We used latent profile analysis to investigate patterns of heterogeneity in executive functions in a sample of 232 preschoolers (M age = 52.15 months, SD age = 6.70 months; 50 % female; 34 % Latine, 31 % White, 10 % Asian, 7 % Black, 14 % Multiracial, and 4 % other) from low-income backgrounds in the Midwestern United States. Five executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, complex planning, and behavioral self-regulation) were used as indicators. We found evidence of four latent profiles including three profiles with consistently below average, above average, and high executive functions. A fourth discordant profile had high executive functions but below average behavioral self-regulation. We also estimated relations among executive function profiles and concurrent numeracy, vocabulary, and geometry; patterns of relations differed by pre-academic skill. Primarily studying executive functions of children from low-income backgrounds in comparison to more affluent peers can promote a deficit perspective that they are uniformly lacking in skills. Using a statistical method that allowed us to explore sub-groups of children based on their executive function skills, we found evidence of four distinct sub-groups in a sample of preschoolers from low-income backgrounds. One sub-group scored high in executive functions but lower in incorporating them into gross motor behavior, which may be particularly important for early math. Results disrupt deficit perspectives and point to future areas of research for designing targeted and differentiated instruction. • Children from low-income backgrounds have substantial variability in their executive functions • Investigating latent profiles of five executive function indicators found evidence of four distinct profiles • A discordant profile may highlight a sub-group of interest for future work on differentiated instruction [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]