Impacts of a Prekindergarten Program on Children's Cognitive, Executive Function, and Emotional Skills

Impacts of a Prekindergarten Program on Children's Cognitive, Executive Function, and Emotional Skills PDF Author: Christina Weiland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Early childhood education
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book Here

Book Description
We found that the prekindergarten program had substantial impacts on children's mathematics, vocabulary, and early reading skills, with effect sizes around half a standard deviation higher. The program also had small impacts on multiple dimensions of children's executive functioning and emotional development. In addition, on some outcomes, the impacts we detected were considerably larger for specific subgroups of children, including those eligible for free/reduced lunch, and for Asian and Hispanic children. In sensitivity analyses, our results were robust to a variety of critical threats to internal validity. Our results inform important curricular decisions that must be made when public prekindergarten programs are implemented. For policymakers, our results confirm that publicly funded prekindergarten programs can improve subsequent educational outcomes for children in meaningful and important ways.

Impacts of a Prekindergarten Program on Children's Cognitive, Executive Function, and Emotional Skills

Impacts of a Prekindergarten Program on Children's Cognitive, Executive Function, and Emotional Skills PDF Author: Christina Weiland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Early childhood education
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book Here

Book Description
We found that the prekindergarten program had substantial impacts on children's mathematics, vocabulary, and early reading skills, with effect sizes around half a standard deviation higher. The program also had small impacts on multiple dimensions of children's executive functioning and emotional development. In addition, on some outcomes, the impacts we detected were considerably larger for specific subgroups of children, including those eligible for free/reduced lunch, and for Asian and Hispanic children. In sensitivity analyses, our results were robust to a variety of critical threats to internal validity. Our results inform important curricular decisions that must be made when public prekindergarten programs are implemented. For policymakers, our results confirm that publicly funded prekindergarten programs can improve subsequent educational outcomes for children in meaningful and important ways.

Tools of the Mind

Tools of the Mind PDF Author: Elena Bodrova
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040005438
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 283

Get Book Here

Book Description
Now in its third edition, this classic text remains the seminal resource for in-depth information about major concepts and principles of the cultural-historical theory developed by Lev Vygotsky, his students, and colleagues, as well as three generations of neo-Vygotskian scholars in Russia and the West. Featuring two new chapters on brain development and scaffolding in the zone of proximal development, as well as additional content on technology, dual language learners, and students with disabilities, this new edition provides the latest research evidence supporting the basics of the cultural-historical approach alongside Vygotskian-based practical implications. With concrete explanations and strategies on how to scaffold young children’s learning and development, this book is essential reading for students of early childhood theory and development.

Play and Literacy in Early Childhood

Play and Literacy in Early Childhood PDF Author: Kathleen A. Roskos
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351553968
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume brings together studies, research syntheses, and critical commentaries that examine play-literacy relationships from cognitive, ecological, and cultural perspectives. The cognitive view focuses on mental processes that appear to link play and literacy activities; the ecological stance examines opportunities to engage in literacy-related play in specific environments; and the social-cultural position stresses the interface between the literacy and play cultures of home, community, and the school. Examining play from these diverse perspectives provides a multidimensional view that deepens understanding and opens up new avenues for research and educational practice. Each set of chapters is followed by a critical review by a distinguished play scholar. These commentaries' focus is to hold research on play and literacy up to scrutiny in terms of scientific significance, methodology, and utility for practice. A Foreword by Margaret Meek situates these studies in the context of current trends in literacy learning and instruction. Earlier studies on the role of play in early literacy acquisition provided considerable information about the types of reading and writing activities that children engage in during play and how this literacy play is affected by variables such as props, peers, and adults. However, they did not deal extensively, as this book does, with the functional significance of play in the literacy development of individual children. This volume pushes the study of play and literacy into new areas. It is indispensable reading for researchers and graduate students in the fields of early childhood education and early literacy development.

Cradle to Kindergarten

Cradle to Kindergarten PDF Author: Ajay Chaudry
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610449061
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Get Book Here

Book Description
Early care and education for many children in the United States is in crisis. The period between birth and kindergarten is a critical time for child development, and socioeconomic disparities that begin early in children’s lives contribute to starkly different long-term outcomes for adults. Yet, compared to other advanced economies, high-quality child care and preschool in the United States are scarce and prohibitively expensive for many middle-class and most disadvantaged families. To what extent can early-life interventions provide these children with the opportunities that their affluent peers enjoy and contribute to reduced social inequality in the long term? Cradle to Kindergarten offers a comprehensive, evidence-based strategy that diagnoses the obstacles to accessible early education and charts a path to opportunity for all children. The U.S. government invests less in children under the age of five than do most other developed nations. Most working families must seek private childcare, which means that children from low-income households, who would benefit most from high-quality early education, are the least likely to attend them. Existing policies, such as pre-kindergarten in some states are only partial solutions. To address these deficiencies, the authors propose to overhaul the early care system, beginning with a federal paid parental leave policy that provides both mothers and fathers with time and financial support after the birth of a child. They also advocate increased public benefits, including an expansion of the child care tax credit, and a new child care assurance program that subsidizes the cost of early care for low- and moderate-income families. They also propose that universal, high-quality early education in the states should start by age three, and a reform of the Head Start program that would include more intensive services for families living in areas of concentrated poverty and experiencing multiple adversities from the earliest point in these most disadvantaged children’s lives. They conclude with an implementation plan and contend that these reforms are attainable within a ten-year timeline. Reducing educational and economic inequalities requires that all children have robust opportunities to learn, fully develop their capacities, and have a fair shot at success. Cradle to Kindergarten presents a blueprint for fulfilling this promise by expanding access to educational and financial resources at a critical stage of child development.

Executive Function in Preschool-age Children

Executive Function in Preschool-age Children PDF Author: James Alan Griffin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781433818271
Category : FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS
Languages : en
Pages : 362

Get Book Here

Book Description
"A primary aim of the neuropsychological revolution has been the mapping of what has come to be known as executive function (EF). This term encompasses a range of mental processes such as working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility that, together, regulate our social behavior, and our emotional and cognitive well-being. In this book, top scientists from a variety of fields investigate executive function as it develops in early childhood. Because researchers differ in their conceptualizations of basic processes and even in how they define EF itself, contributors begin by discussing comparability and replicability, key issues which are of primary importance to those seeking to move the field to a new level of rigor. Next, they tackle the nuts-and-bolts of the development of EF in preschoolers, including the neurobiological mechanisms and circuitry that underlie EF development as well as the role of EF in assessing risk--and its counterpart, resilience. Finally, they highlight exciting new clinical applications of EF research, including the use of EF in contextualizing and assessing family risk, the impact of socioeconomic status on neurological development, and the promotion of EF development through early education programs"--Résumé de l'éditeur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309324882
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 587

Get Book Here

Book Description
Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

The Impact of an Urban Universal Public Prekindergarten Program on Children's Early Numeracy, Language, Literacy, and Executive Function Outcomes

The Impact of an Urban Universal Public Prekindergarten Program on Children's Early Numeracy, Language, Literacy, and Executive Function Outcomes PDF Author: Christina Weiland
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 16

Get Book Here

Book Description
The authors add to and extend the emerging evidence base of the effects of public preschool programs on child school readiness. Using a quasi-experimental, Regression Discontinuity (RD) design, they estimate the impacts of a universal preschool program on children's early numeracy, language, literacy, and executive function skills, both for the overall population and for several subgroups. While they find impacts similar to those reported in other public prekindergarten RD studies, they make a unique contribution to the literature, as theirs is the first causal study of a universal prekindergarten program in which a uniform curricula was in place across the district and in which they have information about the type of care experienced by control children during the treatment year. At Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, they will also present results from robustness checks new to this literature, including sensitivity of results to differential time to join and attrit from the intervention. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.).

Executive Function in Preschool-age Children

Executive Function in Preschool-age Children PDF Author: James Alan Griffin
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
ISBN: 9781433818264
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this book, top scientists from a variety of fields investigate the development of executive function (EF), a term that encompasses a range of mental processes that together regulate our social behavior and our cognitive and emotional well-being.

The Immediate Impact of Cognitively Engaging Physical Activity on Preschool Children's Executive Function

The Immediate Impact of Cognitively Engaging Physical Activity on Preschool Children's Executive Function PDF Author: Marcia L. Preston
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 147

Get Book Here

Book Description
Executive function (EF) skills are important for a wide-range of outcomes, including academic achievement and socio-emotional development. These outcomes promote a call to action to better understand EF and the factors that may influence its development in young children. Previous research with adolescents and adults provides support for a connection between physical activity and improvements in EF (e.g. Best, 2010), though little is known about the impact of physical activity for preschool children. Utilizing a pre-test, intervention, post-test design, the current study examined the immediate impact of cognitively engaging physical activity on three components of preschool children's executive function skills. Based on previous research, this study hypothesized that a combination of physical activity and cognitive engagement (Best, 2010; Diamond, 2015) would result in the greatest improvements on preschool children's working memory, inhibition, and shifting ability compared to activities high in physical activity but low in cognitive engagement, activities low in physical activity but high in cognitive engagement, and activities low in both.

Handbook of Research on Neurocognitive Development of Executive Functions and Implications for Intervention

Handbook of Research on Neurocognitive Development of Executive Functions and Implications for Intervention PDF Author: Alcantud-Marín, Francisco
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799890767
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 494

Get Book Here

Book Description
Executive functions develop during the first years of life and determine future learning and personal development. Executive dysfunction is related to various neurodevelopmental disorders, so its study is of great interest for intervention in children with neurotypical development and in those who have suffered a neurodevelopmental disorder. The Handbook of Research on Neurocognitive Development of Executive Functions and Implications for Intervention offers updated research on executive functions and their implication in psychoeducational intervention. It establishes a multidisciplinary context to discuss both intervention experience and research results in different areas of knowledge. Covering topics such as childhood inhibitory processing, mindfulness interventions, and language development, this major reference work is an excellent resource for psychologists, medical professionals, researchers, academicians, educators, and students.