The present study examined the extent to which preschool classroom supports--relational support (RS) and instructional support (IS)--are associated with children's language development and whether these associations vary as a function of children's language ability. The language skills of 360 children within 95 classrooms were assessed…

Research Findings: The growing body of literature demonstrating the importance of quality interactions with caregivers to infant development coupled with the increasing number of infants spending time in classroom settings highlights the need for a measure of interpersonal relationships between infants and caregivers. This article introduces a new…

Research Findings: Children's (n = 980) social competence during prekindergarten was assessed as a function of their teachers' (n = 233) exposure to the Preschool Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum and 2 levels of support through MyTeachingPartner, a Web-based approach to professional development. Children in classrooms…

Research Findings: Banking Time is a set of techniques designed to promote positive, supportive relationships through 1-on-1 interactions between teachers and children. Web-based training resources were made available to 252 preschool teachers who received different levels of support as a component of a professional development intervention, and…

Research Findings: This exploratory study encompassed a collaboration to implement and evaluate the early efficacy of Banking Time, a dyadic intervention designed to promote supportive teacher-child relationships. Banking Time is a set of one-on-one meetings between a teacher and a child consisting of child-led play and teacher facilitation…

Research Findings: As the pre-kindergarten teacher workforce continues to grow in the United States, the promise of early childhood education depends in large part on in-service professional development. Given mounting evidence that the quality of teacher-child interactions is a fundamental ingredient for young children's learning in classrooms,…

Research Findings: Using observational data gathered in 730 kindergarten classrooms in 6 states, the present study focuses on the quality of children's learning opportunities in kindergarten classrooms. Findings show that overall, children experience moderate to low levels of quality in the areas of classroom organization and instructional support…

Research Findings: Recent evidence suggests that children benefit from pre-K programs in terms of both academic and social skills and that this growth is predicted by the quality of the interactions teachers have with students. Prior cluster analysis revealed 5 distinct quality profiles of teacher-child interactions in pre-kindergarten based on…

Research Findings: This study expands on previous research (Bus & van Ijzendoorn, 1988, 1992, 1997) establishing an association between the quality of mother-child interactions and reading behavior during a joint book-reading task. In a sample of 58 mother-child pairs, the quality of the relationship between mothers and their children at 36 months…

Definitions of school readiness tend to focus on social and academic competencies that children are presumed to need to start school ready to learn. However, a child-focused definition of school readiness is limited because it neither identifies processes that lead children to acquire these competencies, nor does it recognize children's dependence…

The present study is a longitudinal examination of family-school communication in preschool and kindergarten. Preschool and kindergarten teachers and family workers of 75 children from families with low SES logged the frequency and characteristics of family-school communication, resulting in over 22,000 contacts. Data were collected during a…

This study examined the relation between teachers' report of family involvement in school and children's social and academic competencies during kindergarten, measuring families' attitudes toward schools and families' activities with schools. Findings suggest that teachers' reports of family attitudes are a more consistent predictor of outcomes…

Examined changes in classroom membership for 1995-1996 as indicated by kindergarten teachers. Found that 26 percent of kindergarten classroom membership changed over the school year, with frequency increasing as schools were more urban, in higher poverty districts, or with higher student minority representation. Teachers in high-turnover…

Describes demographic and structural features of kindergarten classrooms using data from the National Center for Early Development and Learning's Transition Practices Survey of kindergarten teachers. Explores teachers' education and experience, and their training on facilitating transitions to kindergarten. Also discusses teacher and student…

Examined differences in child-mother interaction, classroom adjustment during kindergarten, and retention in kindergarten between 41 first-born children of adolescent mothers and 88 first-born children of adult mothers. Found that the children of adolescent and adult mothers were generally indistinguishable in areas of classroom adjustment,…