The current study examined associations between the quality of children's social interactions with their teachers and peers and their concurrent parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity in the early education classroom. Data were collected from 80 children (Mage = 4.91 years, 50% female, 50% White). The quality of children's social interaction with their teachers and peers was assessed across five sessions using the inCLASS while changes in children's parasympathetic activity were tracked. Analyses revealed that children increased PNS activity during sessions in which they interacted more positively with their teachers, whereas they decreased activity during sessions in which they interacted more positively with their peers. Children who interacted more positively with their peers across sessions also exhibited larger cross-session reductions in parasympathetic tone.

This study tested the hypothesis that high-quality kindergarten teachers sustain and amplify the skill development of children who participated in North Carolina's NC Pre-K program during the previous year, compared to matched non-participants (N = 17,330; 42% African American, 40% Non-Hispanic White, 15% Hispanic; 51% male; Mage = 4.5 years at fall of pre-K). Kindergarten teacher quality was measured using a "value-added" approach. NC Pre-K participants outperformed non-participants in the fall of kindergarten (beta = .22) and 11% of this boost remained evident by the spring of kindergarten. Higher value-added teachers promoted the skill development of all children (beta = .30 in the spring) but did not differentially benefit the skill development of former NC Pre-K participants compared to non-participants.

Our study assessed whether the peer environment in kindergarten and first grade affected student learning following an early mathematics intervention. We leveraged longitudinal data from a cluster-RCT to examine whether math achievement in kindergarten (n = 1,218) and first grade (n = 1,126) was affected by either the share of high-achieving classmates or the proportion of classroom peers who received a preschool math curriculum intervention. Analyses indicated that exposure to treated peers in first grade, but not kindergarten, was significantly associated with small gains in end-of-year achievement. Some analyses also suggested that average peer math achievement was positively related to children's kindergarten and first-grade achievement across conditions, though these results were less robust. We did not find consistent evidence to suggest that the proportion of treated peers coincided with better teaching practices. Taken together, these findings suggest that classroom peer effects may play only a limited role in sustaining early intervention effects.

The purpose of this study was to explore whether evidence that children have significantly higher achievement and more positive relationships with their teachers when assigned to a teacher of their same race/ethnicity extended to the earliest grades. Using data from a three-year project in North Carolina, we descriptively examined teacher-child racial/ethnic match exposure in prekindergarten (PK), kindergarten (K), and first grade (G1). In exploratory inferential analyses, we further used a two-way fixed-effects (child and time) approach to associate teacher-child racial/ethnic match with academic achievement and teacher-child relationships, moderated by race/ethnicity and grade. Parents/caregivers reported their child's race/ethnicity, and of the sample of children (n = 447), 34% were identified as Black, 42% as Latinx, and 24% non-Latinx White, with 10% of children identified as more than one race/ethnicity. Black children commonly experienced a race match in PK, but this likelihood decreased over time through G1. In contrast, the likelihood that White children experienced a match increased through G1. Latinx children were unlikely to experience a match in any grade. Teacher-child racial/ethnic match was positively associated with children's English language scores, with no suggestion that this effect varied by race or grade. In addition, a positive association between match and reading scores was evident only for Latinx children and only in PK, but not K or G1. Match was not significantly associated with math scores or teacher-reported relationships with children.

ABSTRACT This study utilized data from the Family Life Project (FLP) to examine Head Start children’s school readiness skills at the end of preschool in comparison to two other care groups: home-based care and other center-based care. The FLP study enrolled a birth-cohort of 1,292 children born in two historically low-wealth, rural regions of the U.S., with oversampling of children from low-wealth families and African American families. Propensity score weighting adjusted for differences in baseline child and family characteristics between the Head Start participants and children in the two alternative care groups. Research Findings: The results indicated that the Head Start group had higher literacy skills at the end of preschool in comparison to the home-based care group (β = 0.36), but no other reliable differences emerged between these groups in school readiness skills. No reliable differences emerged between the Head Start and other center-based care groups in school readiness skills. Practice and Policy: Implications for educational practice and policy were discussed in relation to Head Start programming in rural America, including potential targets for program improvement and strategies for program expansion.

We examine the North Carolina Pre-K (NC Pre-K) program to test the hypothesis that observed variation in effects resulting from exposure to the program can be attributed to interactions with other environmental factors that occur before, during, or after the pre-k year. We examine student outcomes in 5th grade and test interaction effects between NC's level of investment in public pre-k and moderating factors. Our main sample includes the population of children born in North Carolina between 1987 and 2005 who later attended a public school in that state, had valid achievement data in 5th grade, and could be matched by administrative record review (n = 1,207,576; 58% White non-Hispanic, 29% Black non-Hispanic, 7% Hispanic, 6% multiracial and Other race/ethnicity). Analyses were based on a natural experiment leveraging variation in county-level funding for NC Pre-K across NC counties during each of the years the state scaled up the program. Exposure to NC Pre-K funding was defined as the per-4-year-old-child state allocation of funds to a county in a year. Regression models included child-level and county-level covariates and county and year fixed effects. Estimates indicate that a child's exposure to higher NC Pre-K funding was positively associated with that child's academic achievement 6 years later. We found no effect on special education placement or grade retention. NC Pre-K funding effects on achievement were positive for all subgroups tested, and statistically significant for most. However, they were larger for children exposed to more disadvantaged environments either before or after the pre-k experience, consistent with a compensatory model where pre-k provides a buffer against the adverse effects of prior negative environmental experiences and protection against the effects of future adverse experiences. In addition, the effect of NC Pre-K funding on achievement remained positive across most environments, supporting an additive effects model. In contrast, few findings supported a dynamic complementarity model. Instrumental variables analyses incorporating a child's NC Pre-K enrollment status indicate that program attendance increased average 5th grade achievement by approximately 20% of a standard deviation, and impacts were largest for children who were Hispanic or whose mothers had less than a high school education. Implications for the future of pre-k scale-up and developmental theory are discussed.

Both early childhood maternal language input and the quality of classroom instruction in elementary school have been shown to be important environmental supports in predicting children's literacy skill development. However, no studies have simultaneously examined these two environmental supports in relation to children's early language skills and later literacy skills across elementary school. The current study examined how multiple years of early maternal language input from 6 to 36 months and later classroom instructional quality from pre-kindergarten (pre-K) through fifth grade were related to children's early language at 36 months and later literacy trajectories in word recognition and reading comprehension across elementary school. The study included a diverse, population-representative sample of 1,292 children who were born in low-wealth rural communities and followed through fifth grade. Video recordings and subsequent transcripts of mother-child shared picture book tasks in the home at four timepoints during early childhood were used to assess maternal diversity of vocabulary, utterance complexity, and engagement (wh-questions) during book sharing. The quality of instruction in elementary school was assessed using classroom observations from pre-K through fifth grade. Maternal complexity and engagement were indirectly related to children's literacy trajectories across pre-K to fifth grade through effects on early child language at 36 months. Higher-quality classroom instruction was not reliably related to concurrent literacy skills in pre-K through fifth grade. Findings suggested the enduring importance of early maternal language input in predicting children's early language and later literacy skill development during elementary school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Prior research has found that financial investments in North Carolina’s early childhood education programs—Smart Start and NC Pre-K—generated positive effects on student achievement in reading and mathematics through eighth grade (Bai et al., 2020). The current study examined if these effects were moderated by two dimensions of educational opportunity in NC public school districts, as measured by (1) the average level of academic achievement among third-grade students in the school district and (2) the rate of growth in academic achievement among students in the school district as they progressed from third to eighth grade. The Smart Start effect on eighth grade reading achievement was larger in school districts with higher levels of average achievement. Also, the NC Pre-K effect on eighth grade reading achievement was smaller in school districts with higher rates of achievement growth.

The positive effects of pre-kindergarten (pre-K) programming may be enhanced in later grades for children who subsequently experience high-quality educational environments in elementary school. The current study tested this hypothesis in relation to the effects of North Carolina's NC Pre-K program on child outcomes at the end of kindergarten, including language, literacy, mathematics, and working memory. Measures of elementary school quality were examined as moderators of the NC Pre-K effects, including school-wide academic proficiency and school-wide growth in academic achievement. We found no reliable effects of NC Pre-K participation for children attending elementary schools with average levels of quality. However, the positive effects of NC Pre-K participation on language and working memory skills were evident for children attending elementary schools with higher levels of academic proficiency and academic growth, respectively. No evidence of moderation was found in relation to literacy and mathematics skills.

This study examines whether changes in classroom quality predict within-child changes in achievement and behavioral problems in elementary school (ages spanning approximately 6–11 years old). Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of children in predominantly low-income, nonurban communities ( n  = 1,078), we relied on child fixed effects modeling, which controlled for stable factors that could bias the effects of classroom quality. In general, we found that changes in classroom quality had small and statistically nonsignificant effects on achievement and behavior. However, we found that moving into a high-quality classroom, particularly those rated as high in Classroom Organization , had positive effects on achievement and behavior for children with significant exposure to poverty in early life.

This study examines whether changes in classroom quality predict within-child changes in achievement and behavioral problems in elementary school (ages spanning approximately 6-11 years old). Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of children in predominantly low-income, nonurban communities (n = 1,078), we relied on child fixed effects modeling, which controlled for stable factors that could bias the effects of classroom quality. In general, we found that changes in classroom quality had small and statistically nonsignificant effects on achievement and behavior. However, we found that moving into a high-quality classroom, particularly those rated as high in Classroom Organization, had positive effects on achievement and behavior for children with significant exposure to poverty in early life.

A major developmental task for young children in the United States involves the acquisition of knowledge about the letters in the English alphabet. In the current study, we examined the growth trajectories of children's letter name knowledge (LNK) during pre-kindergarten and kindergarten. A diverse sample of 1,015 children was drawn from the National Center for Early Development and Learning Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten. Latent class growth analyses were used to identify three heterogeneous classes of children based on their LNK growth trajectories. Children's fall-of-pre-kindergarten language skills were associated with trajectory class membership, which in turn was associated with children's spring-of-kindergarten literacy skills. We also found that the association between children's fall-of-pre-kindergarten language skills and spring-of-kindergarten literacy skills was partially mediated by trajectory class membership. These findings point to the importance of LNK skill development as a marker variable to monitor and support children's emergent literacy development.

This study considered the quality and stability of infant and toddler nonparental child care from 6 to 36 months in relation to language, social, and academic skills measured proximally at 36 months and distally at kindergarten. Quality was measured separately as caregiver–child verbal interactions and caregiver sensitivity, and stability was measured as having fewer sequential child‐care caregivers. This longitudinal examination involved a subsample (N = 1,055) from the Family Life Project, a representative sample of families living in rural counties in the United States. Structural equation modeling revealed that children who experienced more positive caregiver–child verbal interactions had higher 36‐month language skills, which indirectly led to higher kindergarten academic and social skills. Children who experienced more caregiver stability had higher kindergarten social skills.

Prior research indicates that preschool classroom quality is positively associated with children's emergent academic skills at the end of the preschool period, but these associations appear to diminish during kindergarten (K). To consider the accumulation of classroom experiences during preschool and K, data were drawn from a sample of children (N = 1015) who participated in state-funded pre-K programs across six states and were followed into the spring of K. We examined if pre-K and K classroom quality were associated with children's language, literacy, and mathematics skills in the spring of K after controlling for pre-K entry skills, child background demographics, and other classroom covariates. Classroom quality was assessed with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System. We found that additive cumulative effects described associations between classroom quality and children's language and literacy outcomes. For language skills, higher-quality pre-K Instructional Support predicted better K language skills at all levels of Instructional Support quality in K, but higher-quality K Instructional Support also contributed to the prediction of better K language skills in an additive manner. For literacy skills, higher-quality pre-K Instructional Support, Emotional Support, and Classroom Management predicted better K literacy skills at all levels of K quality, but each domain of K quality also contributed to the prediction of better K literacy skills in an additive manner. In contrast, for mathematics, we found that multiplicative cumulative effects described associations between classroom quality and K mathematics skills such that the positive predictive effect of pre-K Instructional Support and Emotional Support was enhanced as the level of K quality increased in each of these domains, respectively. Moreover, sensitivity analyses revealed that higher-quality pre-K Instructional Support and Emotional Support significantly predicted better K mathematics skills for children who experienced high, but not average or low levels of K quality in these domains, respectively. Implications are discussed in relation to classroom quality alignment during pre-K and the early elementary grades. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Early literacy skills play an important role in children's success in school. Especially important to better literacy skills may be the quality of the classroom environment (emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support) across the early years of schooling. This study used an a priori threshold of quality approach to understanding the possible link between the number of years of better classroom quality over four years, from kindergarten through third grade, in relation to children's literacy skills by third grade. This study examined a representative sample of 1292 children followed from birth who lived in low-wealth rural counties in the United States. These children were followed into school with classroom observations conducted each year from kindergarten through third grade and literacy related achievement measures in pre-kindergarten and third grade. Findings suggested that even after controlling for poverty related variables, the quality of the home environment, school entry literacy skills, and teacher rated literacy instruction, children who had more years of better classroom quality had higher third grade literacy scores. Additionally, we found an interaction effect, suggesting that children who entered kindergarten with lower emergent literacy skills benefited more from a greater number of years of better classroom quality in relation to reading comprehension in third grade. Thus, more years of better classroom quality may help in narrowing the gap between those who enter kindergarten with higher literacy skills and those who enter with lower literacy skills. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Previous studies suggest that the roots of school dropout (a) can be established early in life, (b) are likely to involve multilevel factors (home, child, classroom) operating prior to and during the elementary school years, and (c) can be identified by 3rd grade. The decision to drop out of school is thus a dynamic developmental process that can begin with disengagement in elementary school. Yet few studies have examined the multilevel factors that might contribute to children's early disengagement from school. In the present study, we examined associations between household chaos (i.e., disorganization and instability) from birth to age 5 and student (dis)engagement in third grade. We also examined positive parenting in early childhood (6-60 months) and child self-regulatory skills at kindergarten as potential mediators in this pathway. Participants were 1,097 children who participated in the Family Life Project, a longitudinal study of the development of children living in underresourced high poverty rural areas. Study questions were addressed using structural equation models. Results indicated that, even after taking into account a considerable number of covariates, early positive parenting and children's self-regulatory skills were viable process mechanisms through which early household disorganization, but not instability, was linked to student (dis)engagement in third grade. Findings are discussed with respect to the multilevel proximal forces at play in children's risk for early disengagement from school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The gap in school readiness skills between children growing up in poverty and other children has become a major policy issue as increasing proportions of families are living in poverty, especially in low-wealth rural communities. The purpose of this paper was to document the degree to which depth, persistence, and timing of poverty was related to the early development of children in a representative sample of 1,292 families in two of the four poor rural regions in the United States, labeled Appalachia and the Black South. Analyses documented the emergence of the poverty gap in the child's first 5 years of life, asking when the gap emerged and whether it continued to grow through the early childhood period. Findings indicated that families who experienced poverty during the child's first 2-years showed substantially lower cognitive, language, executive functioning, and social skills by 2 to 3 years of age (0.5 to 1.0 SD difference) and these gaps appeared to stabilize between 3 and 5 years of age. Transitions into deep poverty during the preschool period (3- to 5-years) were also related to substantially lower scores, and to a lesser extent, transitions out of poverty were related to higher skill levels. Accounting for baseline demographic and maternal characteristics diminished the poverty gap, but did not eliminate it. The poverty gaps at 3-years in language, executive functioning, and social skills accounted for much of the poverty gaps observed at 5-years. Policy implications for early care and education programming are discussed. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

We examined the initial efficacy of "40 & Forward," a manualized group intervention developed to reduce HIV sexual risk for gay and bisexual men age 40 and older who self-report problems with depression, isolation/ loneliness, and social anxiety. A retrospective evaluation of program data from 84 participants (mean age = 51; 26% HIV infected) across four groups compared within-person change in mental health and sexual risk outcomes between baseline and post-intervention assessments. Participants who completed the intervention demonstrated statistically significant reductions across all mental health outcomes, including depressive symptoms,"(social anxiety symptoms, loneliness, and fear of negative evaluation, as well as increased condom use self-efficacy. Current findings offer a promising approach for additional research and intervention development with this population of aging sexual minority men.

Direct technical assistance to member utilities can speed the latest Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) research and development results into practice. Recent experience of EPRI's Coal Combustion Systems Division illustrates the advantages of direct personal contact, which creates an atmosphere of enthusiasm and positive interaction between personnel. The authors describe the Salt River Project in which EPRI analyzed boiler and scrubber specifications, and other projects involving unit availability at a Pennsylvania utility, the extension of plant life at a Boston utility, and scrubber chemistry for a Texas utility. 2 figures.