Underresourced communities often have limited access to print and materials to promote children's early literacy development. Recognizing that the neighborhood is a unit of social change, organizations that engage families in early reading and learning with their children, therefore, have increasingly become part of the community landscape.…

Just beginning to understand the potentials new technologies might bring to the learning environments of young children, we invited authors to submit articles that investigate multimedia sources and their effect on learning settings. Two main themes emerged--how digitization changes the learning environment and adult-child interaction in…

Coviewing is a commonly recommended practice, but little is known about how coviewing impacts children's educational media viewing experience. We investigated how coviewing impacts attention and comprehension of educational media, as well as the role of baseline vocabulary in understanding these associations. Eighty-three preschoolers viewed two…

Background/Context: Educational policy is informed by multiple stakeholders and actors. Research has focused on understanding how policy decisions are informed and made, as well as how teachers and school leaders take up these policies in their practice. However, few researchers have examined how educational policy is framed for the larger public…

Classic studies of educational media have demonstrated that children can engage in quick, incidental word learning on the basis of a single exposure of a program. Since most words are learned from context, a lingering question has been whether the kind of contextual support affects word learning. Using a within-subjects design this study examined…

Children are spending an increasing amount of time in front of screens. However, little is known about the content of educational media, particularly in relation to vocabulary instruction. Since vocabulary is an important predictor of later reading comprehension, it warrants a thorough investigation on how it is taught in educational media. This…

Universal preschool has the potential to close the knowledge gap--but only if we consider how to best teach preschoolers. Unbridled enthusiasm for universal preschool must be balanced with thoughtful consideration of what goes on in these classrooms, and what activities will most support children's learning. Content-centered classrooms help…

This study was designed to examine the effects of coviewing on low-income children's attention to and understanding of novel words in educational media. In addition, we sought to understand coviewing's contribution to children's receptive and expressive word learning when some target words were repeated more or less frequently. Using a…

Classic studies of educational media have demonstrated that children can engage in quick, incidental word learning on the basis of a single exposure of a program. Since most words are learned from context, a lingering question has been whether the degree of contextual support affects word learning. Using a within-subjects design this study…

Children from diverse backgrounds are able to learn new words from educational media. However, learning is often partial and fragile, leaving much room for uncovering strategies that can increase the efficacy of educational media in supporting children's vocabulary knowledge. The present study investigated one such strategy--repeated viewing of…

Children from diverse backgrounds are able to learn new words from educational media. However, learning is often partial and fragile, leaving much room for uncovering strategies that can increase the efficacy of educational media in supporting children's vocabulary knowledge. The present study investigated one such strategy--repeated viewing of…

There is a virtual consensus regarding the types of language processes, interactions, and material supports that are central for young children to become proficient readers and writers (Shanahan et al., 2008). In this study, we examine these supports in both home and school contexts during children's critical transitional kindergarten year.…

Because English language learners enter kindergarten at a distinct disadvantage, Celano and Neuman examine the role public libraries can play in rallying around these young children to better prepare them for school. The authors document a new program called Every Child Ready to Read, which recently launched in 4,000 public libraries across the…

Although the randomized controlled trial has been regarded as the "sine qua non" in recent years, we argue that understanding contexts for teacher practice is a critical factor in the implementation of intervention, but has often been overlooked in educational research design. In this paper, we argue that randomized trials may not be…

This article reports on two studies designed to examine the landscape of online streamed videos, and the features that may support vocabulary learning for low-income preschoolers. In Study 1, we report on a content analysis of 100 top language- and literacy-focused educational media programs streamed from five streaming platforms. Randomly…