Search

The transition to and through kindergarten is consequential for the academic, social, and emotional wellbeing of children. Policies and practices are in place to smooth that transition. Researchers are working to understand which practices work best and for whom, particularly as the student population in U.S. schools continues to diversify. In this study, we analysed data from a large longitudinal study of racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse families, children, and their teachers. We used multi-level modelling to examine the factors associated with families' reports of strong home-school interactions at the transition to and through kindergarten on the Family Involvement Questionnaire. We found that children having attended preschool and lower class size were associated with family reports of strong interactions. Surprisingly, we also found that teacher-family language match, teachers' self-efficacy for working with families, and teachers' beliefs about children were not significantly associated with families' reports of strong or weak interactions. This work has implications for family engagement policy and practice as children transition to and through kindergarten.

This study used a person-centered approach to identify school readiness profiles in a sample of kindergartners (n=1,826) from a large and diverse school district in the United States. Using latent profile analyses and multilevel modeling, we examined three aims: 1) whether patterns of readiness skills at kindergarten entry could be detected, 2) the extent to which detected patterns predicted gains in academic and social-emotional skills, and 3) whether the quality of teacher-child interactions moderated the associations between profile membership and end of kindergarten outcomes. Based on a comparison of fit indices, a 4-profile solution best represented the data. Eighteen percent of children were in the "High Risk" profile, 34% were in the "Ready" profile, 20% percent of children were in the "Social-Emotional Risk" profile, and 28% of children were in the "High Readiness" profile. For all outcomes, we found that profile membership predicted spring scores, after controlling for fall scores of each skill, suggesting that the constellation of kindergarten readiness skills matters more than any one skill. We also found that the quality of teacher-child interactions moderated associations between profile membership and changes in achievement and problem behavior for children within some groups. Results suggest that children enter kindergarten with unique profiles of skills and that supports for children may need to be individualized based on profiles to maximize social, emotional, and academic development. Results also suggest that high quality teacher-child interactions may serve as an important protective and promotive factor for children with certain clusters of readiness skills at kindergarten entry.

The present study examined how the dosage and quality of the federal preschool program "Head Start" (HS) in the US related to children's self-regulation skills in kindergarten. Using Propensity Score Matching and multiple regression (OLS), this study explored how the number of years and hours a week of HS were related to self-regulation among 2,383 children, who entered the program either at 3 or 4 years old. An additional year in HS was significantly positively associated with self-regulation in kindergarten, while the number of hours a week in HS was not. However, the quality of teacher-child interactions moderated the relation between hours a week in HS and self-regulation. Findings contribute to the growing body of evidence about how dosage and quality of early childhood education experiences relate to children's development.

A sample of 496 early childhood teachers was assigned randomly in two phases to a series of professional development (PD) interventions. Phase I intervention was a 14-week course on effective teacher-child interactions. Participants were then re-randomized into Phase II intervention, which consisted of individual, interactions-focused coaching. Impacts of the course, coaching, and their combination were evaluated relative to business-as-usual controls on knowledge of effective interactions, skill in detecting effective interactions, observed teacher-child interactions, beliefs about intentional teaching, and children's classroom engagement. "Research Findings:" Teachers exposed to the course demonstrated greater knowledge of and skills in detecting effective teacher child-interactions, and displayed higher quality instructional support in their interactions with children during the year following the course. Teachers who received coaching were also observed to display higher levels of instructional support and children in their classrooms displayed more positive engagement with adults. However, neither teachers nor children appeared to gain additional benefit from the combination of the course and coaching. "Practice or Policy:" The results have important implications for efforts to systematically and efficiently improve the quality of early childhood programs through the delivery of PD that is directly aligned with teachers' classroom interactions.

Bilingualism has been systematically associated with better self-regulatory skills (), however, this advantage does not seem to automatically transfer for most dual language learners. This suggests that there are other contextual factors that are necessary to trigger this advantage. This study examines the role of teacher-child interactions in the development of Spanish-speaking bilingual preschoolers' self-regulation in an English-speaking context, and how this relation differs between bilingual and English-speaking monolingual children. Our study analyzed a sample of 1656 preschoolers in the U. S. and yielded two salient results (1) Bilingual children demonstrated greater gains in self-regulatory skills than their monolingual peers when in classrooms with high-quality teacher-child interactions. (2) Vocabulary in bilingual children moderated the relation between teacher-child interactions and teacher-reported self-regulation for bilingual children, with bilinguals who had greater vocabulary knowledge benefiting more from classroom interactions. These outcomes hold significant implications for policy makers, given the evolving sociodemographic profile of classrooms globally.

BACKGROUNDAutoimmune diseases often have strong genetic associations with specific HLA-DR alleles. The synovial lesion in chronic inflammatory forms of arthritis shows marked upregulation of HLA-DR molecules, including in postinfectious Lyme arthritis (LA). However, the identity of HLA-DR-presented peptides, and therefore the reasons for these associations, has frequently remained elusive.METHODSUsing immunopeptidomics to detect HLA-DR-presented peptides from synovial tissue, we identified T cell epitopes from 3 extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in patients with postinfectious LA, identified potential Borreliella burgdorferi-mimic (Bb-mimic) epitopes, and characterized T and B cell responses to these peptides or proteins.RESULTSOf 24 postinfectious LA patients, 58% had CD4+ T cell responses to at least 1 epitope of 3 ECM proteins, fibronectin-1, laminin B2, and/or collagen Vα1, and 17% of 52 such patients had antibody responses to at least 1 of these proteins. Patients with autoreactive T cell responses had significantly increased frequencies of HLA-DRB1*04 or -DRB1*1501 alleles and more prolonged arthritis. When tetramer reagents were loaded with ECM or corresponding Bb-mimic peptides, binding was only with the autoreactive T cells. A high percentage of ECM-autoreactive CD4+ T cells in synovial fluid were T-bet-expressing Th1 cells, a small percentage were RoRγt-expressing Th17 cells, and a minimal percentage were FoxP3-expressing Tregs.CONCLUSIONAutoreactive, proinflammatory CD4+ T cells and autoantibodies develop to ECM proteins in a subgroup of postinfectious LA patients who have specific HLA-DR alleles. Rather than the traditional molecular mimicry model, we propose that epitope spreading provides the best explanation for this example of infection-induced autoimmunity.FUNDINGSupported by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases R01-AI101175, R01-AI144365, and F32-AI125764; National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases K01-AR062098 and T32-AR007258; NIH grants P41-GM104603, R24-GM134210, S10-RR020946, S10-OD010724, S10-OD021651, and S10-OD021728; and the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation, the Eshe Fund, and the Lyme Disease and Arthritis Research Fund at Massachusetts General Hospital.

PurposeThe purpose of the current study, The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Health in Early and Adult Life (SHINE), was to build on the landmark Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD), a longitudinal birth cohort initiated in 1991, by conducting a health-focused follow-up of the now adult participants. This effort has produced an invaluable resource for the pursuit of life course research examining links between early life risk and resilience factors and adulthood health and disease risk.ParticipantsOf the 927 NICHD SECCYD participants available for recruitment in the current study, 705 (76.1%) participated in the study. Participants were between 26 and 31 years and living in diverse geographic locations throughout the USA.Findings to dateIn descriptive analyses, the sample exhibited risk on health status indicators, especially related to obesity, hypertension and diabetes. Of particular concern, the prevalence of hypertension (29.4%) and diabetes (25.8%) exceeded national estimates in similar-age individuals. Health behaviour indicators generally tracked with the parameters of poor health status, showing a pattern of poor diet, low activity and disrupted sleep. The juxtaposition of the sample's relatively young age (mean=28.6 years) and high educational status (55.6% college educated or greater) with its poor health status is noteworthy, suggesting a dissociation between health and factors that are typically health protective. This is consistent with observed population health trends, which show a worsening of cardiometabolic health status in younger generations of Americans.Future plansThe current study, SHINE, lays the groundwork for future analyses in which the uniquely robust measures collected as a part of the original NICHD SECCYD will be leveraged to pinpoint specific early life risk and resilience factors as well as the correlates and potential mechanisms accounting for variability in health and disease risk indicators in young adulthood.

Learning environments can support the development of foundational knowledge and promote children's attitudes toward learning and school. This study explores the relation between school enjoyment and general knowledge from preschool (2016-2017) to kindergarten (2017-2018) in 1359 children (M[subscript age] = 55, 61 months, female = 50%; 58.5% Hispanic, 17% Black, 10% Asian, 10% White, 5% multiracial/other; linguistically diverse). Cross-lagged panel models showed significant bidirectional associations between preschool enjoyment and change in general knowledge from preschool to kindergarten with a standardized coefficient of [beta] = 0.21 (p < 0.001) and associations between preschool general knowledge and change in enjoyment, [beta] = 0.09 (p = 0.015). Exploratory analyses with teacher characteristics and demographic subgroup comparisons are discussed. These associations suggest the potential intervention strategy of promoting early school enjoyment to support broader academic development.

Research Findings: The present study examines the unique and joint effects of individual teacher-child relationships and overall quality of teacher-child interactions on the motivation of 2,745 kindergarten children (51% girls; ages 5--6) from an ethnically and linguistically diverse county. Teachers reported the closeness and conflict in their individual relationships with each child. The quality of teacher-child interactions was measured via classroom observations using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). Motivation was measured using children's self-reports of their school enjoyment, feelings toward the teacher, self-concept, and growth mindset. Multilevel models showed that teacher-child relationships characterized by high closeness were positively associated with children's motivation, whereas highly conflictual teacher-child relationships were associated with negative motivation outcomes, especially for boys. No significant associations were found between teacher-child interactions and children's motivation. Practice or Policy: The findings highlight the role of supportive relationships between teachers and children in the early development of motivation, and potential gender differences that may emerge. Professional development and training that help teachers form positive relationships with different children from diverse backgrounds may support teachers in fostering young children's motivation.

This study examined the links between classroom skill compositions and preschoolers' early learning and development in the nationally representative Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey 2014 (FACES, n = 1,711 children/207 classrooms) and public pre-K programs in a county in Virginia (n = 1,467 children/123 classrooms). Results from a series of covariate-adjusted multilevel regression models revealed that there were small within-domain associations between classmates' skill mean and individual children's academic and executive function skill development in FACES, but not in the Virginia data. There were no consistent associations across skill domains nor as a function of classmates skills' heterogeneity. In addition, we found little evidence that these associations between classroom skill compositions and individual children's development varied by children's initial skill levels, family income, maternal education, and home language. When taken together, these findings inform the discourse on peer influences on children's learning in early childhood.

Pre-kindergarten (pre-k) is thought to have both direct and indirect effects on children's outcomes in early elementary school. Direct pre-k effects consistently include moderate to large gains in academic skills and sometimes include increases in problem behaviors that affect acquisition of skills in school. Indirect pre-k effects assume that having more pre-k attenders in classrooms motivates teachers to provide more challenging instruction and provide children with more academically skilled, but perhaps behaviorally challenged peers with whom they interact. To date, these indirect effects have not been carefully examined. This study used a district-wide cohort study of a pre-k program (n = 2572 children, 482 kindergarten classrooms) to examine whether the proportion of children in kindergarten classrooms with pre-k experience related to gains in children's academic, executive function, and social skills during kindergarten. Results indicated that schools with more pre-k attenders served more children from low-income families and children of color. The quality of instruction in classrooms with more pre-k attenders was rated as slightly higher in terms of instructional support and focus on abstract learning when school composition was not considered. Teachers reported less focus on teachers-parent coordination of home learning in classrooms with more pre-k attenders. Children with more classmates who attended pre-k, regardless of their own pre-k attendance histories, showed slightly larger gains in vocabulary and inhibitory control skills but also showed smaller increases in ability to manage frustration. When taken together, findings may indicate that peers influence young children's verbal and social skills, but do not support speculation that increasing pre-k exposure would improve reading or math skills overall or lead to more externalizing behavior problems.

This study examined whether pre-K benefits persist through the end of first grade and the extent to which persistence differs based on outcome domains, subsequent classroom environments, and key subgroups of children. Data from 2,351 children living in a large and diverse county in Virginia revealed that the initial benefits of pre-K for academic and executive function persisted through the end of first grade but were 75% to 80% smaller than at kindergarten entry. Kindergarten and first-grade classroom environments did not sustain pre-K benefits. Although the initial benefits of pre-K were larger for dual language learners and children in poverty relative to English speakers and low-income children, there were no differential benefits by the end of first grade.

Areas of misalignment between children's experiences in preschool and kindergarten are increasingly viewed as contributing to the fade-out of preschool effects. The current study examined alignment and misalignment of classroom experiences across the transition from public pre-k into kindergarten. As part of a longitudinal cohort study, we examined structural features, process features, and teacher beliefs and practices in 295 public kindergarten classrooms and 117 public pre-K classrooms that feed into them. Analyses revealed a number of differences indicative of potential misalignment, including fewer ethnically and linguistically diverse teachers, more time in teacher-structured activities, and less effective teacher-child interactions in kindergarten. Potential alignment was indicated in some areas, such as more time in kindergarten spent on academics; progression toward more advanced literacy and math content from pre-k to kindergarten; and teachers across both grades reported similarly child-centered ideas about children. Exploratory results by pre-K auspice comparing school-based and center-based pre-K raised further questions about what the meaningful components of alignment are. The field lacks a robust empirical base for defining "good" alignment, thus these descriptive results are discussed in terms of implications for future, predictive research.

As research continues to show the benefits of high-quality early childhood education, it is important to ensure that measures are available to assess the full impacts of these programs for student outcomes. Many achievement measures and observational measures exist, but there is a need for measures of children's experiences at the preschool level. Using data from 1102 preschool children, we evaluated the reliability and validity of a new measure of children's academic orientations, including their feelings about their teacher, school enjoyment, growth mindset, and perceived academic competence. We gave children a one-on-one 12-item assessment in which they responded to survey questions on a 3-point Likert scale. The psychometric qualities of the scale were evaluated using item factor analysis, invariance testing of the scale across important demographic groups, examination of item thresholds, and correlations of the scales with teacher-reported measures. Overall, the measures adhered to the hypothesized factor structure, were invariant across the diverse demographic groups in the sample, and correlated with teacher-reported outcomes in hypothesized ways. Results from the psychometric analysis are being used to update the scale for the next iteration.

The present study aimed to identify commonalities and points of divergence in the ways that parents, teachers, and administrators characterize children's transition from public pre-K into kindergarten within a large, diverse school district. A wide range of transition practices were in use across the district, including practices designed to educate parents, connect pre-K and kindergarten stakeholders, train teachers, and provide transition experiences to children. Transition experiences were not uniform across programs, though. Using a consensual qualitative coding approach, we identified three crosscutting themes related to pre-K transitions: (1) pre-k programs and staff invest significant time and effort in supporting successful transitions; (2) preschool programs' school readiness efforts often center on the mechanics of the transition, like completing paperwork and teaching children basic school behaviors; and (3) there are concerns about a lack of alignment between pre-K and kindergarten in terms of readiness, behavioral expectations, and learning goals.

The present study reports associations between features of directly observed classroom processes and school readiness skills across the academic year for 1498 children enrolled in publicly funded pre-K programs in a large and diverse county. In models adjusting for a range of child and family covariates, evidence was detected for the separate, and on occasion additive, associations of several classroom process features with children's skills -- overall quality of teacher-student interaction, teachers' direct involvement in educational activities, the rigor of those activities in terms of difficulty, and children's exposure to academic content. Associations were not widespread or large, and overall children's performance appeared to increase modestly when classrooms were more educationally focused and structured, and teachers were supportive and responsive as they were involved with children. Results are discussed in light of efforts to improve the benefits of pre-K programs on children's learning.

Children's social and emotional experiences influence brain development and are therefore central to outcomes of behavior, learning, and health. The current study examined associations between children's cumulative educational assets in the early grades and end of first grade social-emotional outcomes for children from English- and Spanish-speaking families. Data were drawn from a sample of preschool-aged children (N = 1,132) from low-income families in a large, culturally, and linguistically diverse sample followed annually from pre-kindergarten through first grade. A multi-method, multi-informant approach was used to assess predictor and outcome variables. Results indicate overall that cumulative experiences of educational assets (teacher-student interaction and relationships, parent-teacher communication) were associated with indicators of children's social-emotional well-being and matter in similar ways for children from English- and Spanish-speaking families. However, we did find some evidence of significant interactions of Spanish as a home language with cumulative educational assets on children's conduct problems and feelings about peers.

This investigation considered the short-term benefits of early childhood education participation at age 3 for 1,213 children from low-income families living in a large and linguistically diverse county. Although no benefits emerged for executive functioning, children who participated in formal early childhood programs at the age of 3 entered prekindergarten the following year demonstrating stronger academic skills and less optimal social behavior than their peers with no earlier educational experience. However, these academic benefits were short-lived and did not persist through the end of prekindergarten, in large part because children who did not attend these programs at age 3 caught up with their classmates who did. Roughly a quarter of this convergence in academics was attributed to children's subsequent classroom experiences.

Due to ongoing inequities, discrimination, and injustice, the antiracist movement has gained momentum in all parts of society, including education and school counseling. A foundational aspect of antiracism is self-reflection to increase awareness, identify biases, and build cultural proficiency. Multitiered systems of support (MTSS) is an evidence-based framework widely used throughout K-12 education in the United States to assist with every student's school-related success. In this article, we propose an antiracist approach to the MTSS framework, in which reflection serves as the foundation. We provide practical activities and reflections to facilitate growth and promote antiracism within MTSS.

Despite research demonstrating the importance of mathematics achievement to children's educational success and trajectories, many children enter kindergarten without the foundational mathematics skills needed to succeed (Garcia & Weiss, 2015). Children's executive function (EF) skills and their learning-related behaviors (Anthony & Ogg, 2020) may play a key role in supporting their early mathematics achievement (Morgan et al., 2019). Additionally, there is some evidence that children's learning behaviors are a mechanism through which EF is related to math achievement (e.g., Nesbitt et al., 2015), however this pathway hasn't been fully explored. There is also little to no research that has explored whether the pathways through which EF is related to math achievement function similarly for boys versus girls, although some literature suggests that differences in the nature or strength of the associations could contribute to differences in mathematics achievement among boys and girls in elementary school (e.g., Fryer Jr and Levitt, 2010; Robinson-Cimpian et al., 2013; Robinson & Lubienski, 2011). In this study, we used longitudinal data from a racially/ethnically and linguistically diverse sample of 467 preschoolers to examine: (1) if children's EF at the beginning of pre-kindergarten predicts growth in their mathematics achievement across the pre-kindergarten year; (2) whether growth in learning behaviors, specifically task orientation, mediate the associations between EF and mathematics achievement; and (3) if there are sex differences in these associations. We found that growth in children's task orientation partially mediates the association between EF and mathematics achievement for the preschoolers in our study. Although girls had significantly higher task orientation, we did not find a statistically significant difference in the direct associations between EF, task orientation, and mathematics or in the mediating effect of task orientation for boys and girls. The discussion reviews implications and directions for future research.

Continuity of pre-k and kindergarten classroom experiences is a key area of interest for early childhood researchers interested in supporting public pre-k children's development over time. To advance the empirical evidence on this topic, this study examined whether differences in classroom experiences as children transition from pre-k to kindergarten are associated with kindergarten social-emotional and self-regulation skills among low-income, race- and language-diverse public pre-k children. Children attending public pre-K were assessed in the spring of pre-k and fall and spring of kindergarten on a range of social-emotional and self-regulation skills (N = 1,358; 67.1 months old (SD = 3.6) in kindergarten; 50% male; 60% Hispanic and/or Latine, 17% Black, 10% White, 13% other). Classroom experiences (teacher-child interactions, teacher-child closeness, and the amount of time spent in teacher-structured activities) were assessed using observations and teacher reports in both grade levels. Regression models adjusted for kindergarten nesting indicated that decreases in teacher-child closeness and the quality of teacher-child interactions were associated with children's lower social competence, learning behaviors, and inhibition in the fall of kindergarten, relative to spring of pre-k. There were limited associations with child gains from fall to spring. Results suggest that differences between pre-k and kindergarten academic and social environments may be difficult for children as they adjust to kindergarten. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications for efforts to align classroom experiences across grades.

Experiencing large differences between pre-k and kindergarten classroom contexts may affect children's academic development as they start school. This study examined differences between classroom contexts in pre-k and kindergarten (teacher-child interactions, time on academic content, and academic rigor) and associations with literacy, language, and math achievement in kindergarten fall and spring. 1498 children were followed from public pre-k through kindergarten (mean age = 52.8 months old at the start of pre-k, SD = 3.5). Children were ethnically and linguistically diverse (White = 7%, Black = 20%, Hispanic = 61%, Other = 12%; English at home = 21%, Spanish at home = 55%; other language at home = 24%). Piecewise growth modeling showed that experiencing a decrease in the quality of interactions or an increase in time on content or academic rigor was associated with lower than expected achievement in the fall of kindergarten but greater gains across the kindergarten year.

COVID-19 has increased the emphasis on social emotional learning (SEL) in our schools. Unfortunately, the current approaches to SEL can often perpetuate racial hierarchies, apply a deficit lens toward students, and emphasize the need for student-level change while ignoring the historical, social, and cultural influences that created and actively maintain oppressive environments through which students are required to navigate. Therefore, the authors offer an Antiracist Social Emotional Justice Learning (ASEJL) approach for educators to apply to promote freedom and justice for students through empowerment, hope, and joy. The AEJL approach emphasizes applying Critical Theoretical Frameworks, Anti-Bias Building Blocks, Student and Family Voice, Strengths Based Empowerment, and Homeplace to combat the current colorblind approach to SEL while cultivating the interests and talents of students and families from diverse backgrounds.

The present study examines the extent to which participation in a 14-week professional development course designed to improve teacher-child interactions in the classroom moderated the relation between teacher-reported job stress and gains in observed teacher-child interaction quality from the beginning to the end of the intervention. Participants were preschool teachers (N = 427; M age = 42) with an average of 11 years of experience teaching. Teachers reported how intensely they experienced different sources of stress at pre-test only (i.e., prior to being randomized into the treatment condition [course or control]). Teacher-child interactions were measured through classroom observations at pre and post intervention. Results demonstrated that control teachers reporting higher professional investment stress showed fewer gains in observed emotional support relative to control teachers experiencing less professional investment stress. These findings were not evident for teachers in the course condition. Interestingly, teachers with higher professional investment stress showed fewer gains in instructional support in the control condition and greater gains in the course condition, relative to teachers in their respective treatment groups who reported lower levels of professional investment stress. Findings suggest that participation in the professional development intervention had a buffering effect on the negative association between professional investment stress and emotional support. With regard to instructional support, it is possible that teachers' heightened awareness and anxiety over their need to develop professionally may have made them more responsive to an intervention designed to improve practice.

Although we know that children who are more frequently absent from school do less well academically, we know little about whether absences matter for other domains of development and whether the timing of their absences matter. In order to address these gaps in knowledge, we examined the experiences of 1,131 kindergartners (64% Hispanic, 7% Black, 17% Asian/other, 12% White) from a mid-Atlantic state. Covariate-adjusted regression analyses showed that children who missed school more frequently did less well in terms of their academic achievement and executive function skills both in kindergarten and through the end of first grade. Importantly, however, there were no consistent differences in children's social behavior nor did outcomes vary as a function of whether their absences occurred in the fall as compared with spring.