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Much effort has been expended in developing intervention programs to help improve the early literacy and school readiness skills of young children. This article presents the results of a needs assessment project aimed at identifying priorities for community intervention programs aimed at ensuring that young children enter school ready to learn. A panel of 30 carefully selected early childhood panelists completed 4 rounds of questionnaires designed to develop a prioritized list of key community needs and programs. The panelists identified 39 broad issues and prioritized these in terms of critical importance. Participants also identified key existing assets and needed community efforts to address the highest rated priorities. Several implications for educational intervention and service provision can be drawn from this project. The article may provide a blueprint for others wishing to identify key community needs related to important early childhood issues.

Several challenges arise when researchers or practitioners attempt to assess the literacy skills of toddlers, including a lack of developmentally appropriate measures, toddlers' more limited communication ability, and how literacy is defined in the years before age three. This paper describes four new measures of early literacy development and provides preliminary evidence of their reliability and validity. Results show that the measures of Representational Knowledge, Concepts About Symbols, Book Handling Skills, and Environmental Symbols all performed well in a sample of 148 toddlers. The findings hold several implications for the study of the literacy development of toddlers.

Keeping children safe and healthy is one of the main concerns of parents and child care providers. SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) is the leading cause of death in infants 1 month to 12 months of age. Over 2,000 infants die from SIDS every year in the United States, and almost 15% of these deaths occur in child care settings. A targeted educational training was developed to teach child care providers about SIDS and the importance of safe sleep environments in child care. Statistical analyses indicated significant differences in participant knowledge and self-reported practices on pre- and post-tests. (Contains 2 tables.)

Using a developmental assets framework, we examined the influences of family resources, routines, and stress on preschool-aged children's emerging literacy development. Data were collected from 85 children as well as from their parents. Using path analysis, the results revealed that the more regular the routines in the household, the more likely parents were to engage their children in literacy enhancing activities, and in turn the higher the children's print knowledge and reading interest. This was the case both initially and a year later. Results also showed that family resources and stress contributed to aspects of literacy development, although not as strongly as family routines. The findings suggest that interventions should include efforts to promote supportive family contexts as an additional means to enhance children's literacy development. (Contains 1 table, 2 figures, and 1 note.)

This paper reports on a study that examined both the concurrent and longitudinal connections between multiple components of the home environment and indicators of preschool-aged children's literacy and language development. Data were collected from 85 parents and their children at two different times. Results of structural path models indicated that (a) parental literacy habits were positively associated with parental reading beliefs, (b) parental reading beliefs were positively associated with parent-child literacy and language activities in the home, and (c) parent-child literacy and language activities were positively associated with children's print knowledge and reading interest. Parental demographic characteristics were associated with children's expressive and receptive language skills. The results highlight how different components of the home literacy environment are associated with different components of preschool-aged children's literacy and language abilities, findings that become more important as educators and policy-makers look for ways to enhance children's literacy and language development.

This study examined mothers beliefs about literacy development, the association of those beliefs with other aspects of the home literacy environment, and connections between parental literacy beliefs and pre-school aged children's literacy development. Data were collected from 79 mothers and their children over one year, and two profiles of parental literacy beliefs emerged. Facilitative mothers believed that taking an active role in teaching children at home would provide opportunities for their children to gain vocabulary, knowledge, and morals. Conventional mothers expressed the belief that schools, more than parents, are responsible for teaching children and tended to report many challenges to reading with children. Homes with Facilitative mothers tended to be more literacy enriching than homes of Conventional mothers, and children with Facilitative mothers displayed more advanced print knowledge and interest in reading. These findings have implications for understanding the connections among parental literacy beliefs, home literacy environments, and children's literacy outcomes. (Contains 5 tables.)

Examined the relationship between the family environment and children's language and literacy skills, guided by the three models of: (1) Family as Educator; (2) Resilient Family; and (3) Parent-Child Care Partnership. Found that only the Family as Educator model was significantly related to child language and literacy outcomes. (Author)