Michael F. Kelley

Forty Years of School Readiness Research: What Have We Learned?

T he issue of children’s school readiness concerns parents and teachers worldwide. Kindergarten teachers have reported that approximately onethird of U.S. children entering school are ill-prepared to achieve success (Boyer, 1991; Carnegie Task Force on Meeting the Needs of Young Children, 1994). Experts also warn that many children are entering school lacking the fundamental skills to achieve academic success. It is well-documented that children of color and those from low-income families are more likely to enter school with fewer of the language, literacy, social, and other skills needed to ensure school success, compared to more advantaged children (Child Trends & Center for Child Health Research, 2004; Early et al., 2007). While public schools have become more involved in preschool education and elementary schools are serving increasingly younger children, the schools themselves are often ill-prepared to provide learning environments that stimulate children’s early learning in developmentally appropriate ways. In the United States, the recent emphasis on accountability for children’s progress has perpetuated ”push-down” curriculum approaches in elementary schools and the elimination of recess in favor of longer periods of instruction that leave little or no time for young children to learn naturally through play and exploration. After more than 40 years of research examining school readiness, it is timely to reflect on where we are at this point and what we have learned from prior studies. Consequently, the purpose of this article is to delve into the extant research base to examine what research has revealed that may guide and inform current school readiness efforts. We will summarize key findings of relevant research, with an emphasis on highly credible, largescale studies from which one can, with confidence, draw implications for developing school readiness models.

Early Years Educators at Play: A Research-based Early Childhood Professional Development Program

Every culture has developed some version of performance art. Children especially appreciate performance; their innate openness, forgiveness, and self-love make them delightful performers and audience members. Every time they engage with performance art, children are learning about storytelling, history, sociability, artistry, and physicality. Through performance, children learn skills related to organization, collaboration, emotional competence, compassion, and literacy. Children learn best when their lessons include rich, multi-faceted and participatory elements; drama and theater can help augment learning by involving physical movement and child participation to aid in comprehension and memory. In this article, the authors discuss a professional development program designed to support teachers in employing drama strategies for literacy instruction with 3- to 5-year-old children.

The Influence of Spanish Vocabulary and Phonemic Awareness on Beginning English Reading Development: A Three-Year (K-2nd) Longitudinal Study.

This investigation examined the influence of varying levels of Spanish receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness ability on beginning English vocabulary, phonemic awareness, word reading fluency, and reading comprehension development across kindergarten through second grade. The 80 respondents were Spanish speaking children with no English language skills at the start of kindergarten and varying attainments in Spanish. They were divided into four groups based on Spanish-language ability in receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness. Analyses of the group’s scores on an array of assessments in English revealed four significant results: (1) the development of English vocabulary favored the groups with at or above Spanish receptive vocabulary, (2) Spanish phonemic awareness helped the acquisition of English phonemic awareness but appeared not to influence other assessment results unless combined with Spanish receptive vocabulary, (3) the advantages of Spanish phonemic awareness in the absence of Spanish receptive vocabulary only applied to English word reading fluency and phonemic awareness and not English vocabulary and comprehension, (4) initial Spanish receptive vocabulary ability had the greatest impact on 2nd-grade reading comprehension. The researchers link the implications and importance of these findings to existing scholarship.

Assessment of Self-Recognition in Young Children with Handicaps

Thirty young children with handicaps were assessed using a series of five self-recognition mirror tasks developed by Bertenthal and Fischer (1978a, 1978b). The task data were submitted to a Guttman Scalogram. Generally, the set of items did form a reproducible scale, indicating these tasks are an appropriate measure of self-recognition in young children with handicaps. However, some general differences were noted between task performance by this sample and those reported by the authors for nonhandicapped young children, particularly, results obtained on task 1 (tactual exploration of the mirror). A partial correlation technique, controlling for chronological age, indicated that stage of self-recognition is positively and significantly related to cognitive development or mental age. Possible explanations for the observed differences are presented, along with recommendations for future research.

Research Into Practice

This issue highlights an observational study of mother/child and father/child interactions in story reading, the role that teacher talk plays in promoting literacy development in kindergarten children, the impact of teacher training on peace building and conflict resolution in Head Start preschool children, the impact of teacher structure on child care quality, the use of technology in scaffolding young childrens reflections with student-created PowerPoint presentations, and overcoming parental and caregiver concerns to envision possibilities for toddlers with disabilities in inclusive child care settings. This column will briefly describe the character of each study and attempt to illuminate the practice implications.

Language ideologies of Arizona preschool teachers implementing dual language teaching for the first time: pro-multilingual beliefs, practical concerns

ABSTRACTThis mixed-methods study examines the language ideologies of 28 preschool educators in their first month transitioning from English-only to dual language education (DLE). Using the language...

Expanding opportunities to learn to support inclusive education through drama‐enhanced literacy practices.

This study examines how the Early Years Educators at Play (EYEPlay) professional development (PD) programme supported inclusive learning settings for all children, including English language learners and students with disabilities. The EYEPlay PD model is a year‐long programme that integrates drama strategies into literacy practices within real‐classroom contexts. Inclusive education refers to ensuring equal opportunities to access and participation in learning activities for all students. Cultural‐historical activity theory was used to understand and unpack the drama practices. Twelve semi‐structured focus group interviews were conducted with 19 preschool teachers. The data were analysed via constant‐comparative and interpretive methods. The study findings showed that EYEPlay PD practices enhanced inclusive learning settings for diverse groups of students by increasing access and expanding opportunities to learn, and supporting a positive learning environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connecting Classroom Practice and Research: Journal of Research in Childhood Education Vol. 19, Nos. 1 & 2, Fall 2004 and Winter 2004

Handle W i t h Care: Integrating Caring Content in Mathematics and Science Methods Classes -Lake, Jones, 15 Dagli This study analyzes two methods courses that were specifically designed to integrate the ethic of care within science and mathematics teaching. Forty-four female preservice early childhood teachers actively participated in relationship-building activities and practiced caring content in the context of the methods classes. In addition, they observed the teacher educators modeling caring content as they taught the classes. The authors provided 10 prompts to each preservice teacher and then examined their electronic journal entries for evidence of their understanding of caring and their ability to transfer caring practices to their field placements. The results are discussed in terms of the impact of modeling and practice, the importance of dialogue, and the power of confirmation. Over time, the preservice students were able to identify how the teacher educators utilized the ethic of care in their methods courses. In addition, the students were able to describe ways that they employed the ethic of care into their field placement classrooms. An interesting component of this study was the dialogic nature of the research activity. The instructors routinely shared their interests and ideas about the research project with their students a s the methods courses unfolded. Thus, the students and instructors became participant-observers as the program of courses evolved and transformed. This study concludes with the important point that building and modeling caring relationships is crucial to the preservice teacher’s capacity to receive curricular content and their abili ty to teach that content to young children.

Connecting Classroom and Research: Journal of Research in Childhood Education

The Effects of nn Early Reading Ciirviciilirin on Lnnpage and Li termy Developnient of Head Start Children -Paiilson, Kelly, lepson, vnn den Pol, Ashmore, Farrier, 13 Girilfoyle During the past two decades, research has documented the importance of facilitating early and emerging literacy skills in low-income preschool-age children who are statistically at-risk for having problems learning to read. The goal of this study was to examine the effects of an early reading curriculum on the language and literacy skills of preschool-age Head Start children. The Montana Early Literacy Project (MELP) is a five-component curriculum model that embeds literacy experiences within the existing routines of everyday classrooms and home life. It is a childand family-centered model that employs culturally relevant practices to foster literacy development. Twenty-nine children attending three local Head Start classrooms in Montana participated in and completed all phases of the study. Fourteen of the children were randomly assigned to a classroom where the MELP curriculum was implemented, along with traditional curricular experiences, during a nine-month period. Fifteen children were randomly assigned to classrooms where only the traditional curricular experiences were offered. Pre-and posttest data were gathered using an Emerging Literacy Screening assessment that measures language use, phonological awareness, and print development. Additionally, individual spontaneous language samples were collected in order to examine expressive language growth. Analysis of covariance was used to account for initial group pretest differences on the assessment data. The results showed that children who experienced the MELP curriculum along with the traditional curriculum significantly outgained their counterparts in language use, phonological awareness, and print development. Moreover, the MELP group made significantly higher gains in narrative discourse development than did the traditional curriculum group. The practical implications of this research relate to the structuring of classroom and family-related experiences that embed language and literacy activities within existing routines and events.