Developing young children's vocabulary is essential for later reading success; thus, early childhood classrooms require a comprehensive vocabulary approach that teaches academic vocabulary. Yet even providing young children with child-friendly definitions of sophisticated words can be a challenge. First, the authors outline the components of a…

Research Findings: This study used the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to examine barriers to teachers implementation of a supplemental academic language curricula. Despite high satisfaction with this scripted curriculum, three past studies indicated heterogeneity in teachers fidelity of implementing the curriculum as well as difficulty going…

This study examines blending of classroom- and family-based supports within a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS). The present study focuses on a sample of Head Start children who are both experiencing poverty and scoring below early language and literacy screening benchmarks. This study begins to explore which combination of resources are the…

There is increasing interest in low-cost, scalable approaches that support parent engagement in their children's learning at home. This study examined the impact of one such approach on pre-kindergarteners' literacy development during an academic year in a suburban public school setting that prioritized enrollment for children living in poverty.…

There is increasing interest in low-cost, scalable approaches that support parent engagement in their children's learning at home. This study examined the impact of one such approach on pre-kindergarteners' literacy development during an academic year in a suburban public school setting that prioritized enrollment for children living in poverty.…

In early childhood, family engagement includes home- and school-based participation of families in their children's learning, with the goal of building genuine and collaborative partnerships between educators and families (NASEM 2016). While the expectation is that family-school collaborations are ongoing and on multiple levels, family-educator…

Research Findings: This study used the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) to examine barriers to teachers’ implementation of a supplemental academic language curricula. Despite high satisfaction with this scripted curriculum, three past studies indicated heterogeneity in teachers’ fidelity of implementing the curriculum as well as difficulty…

Developing young children's vocabulary is essential for later reading success; thus, early childhood classrooms require a comprehensive vocabulary approach that teaches academic vocabulary. Yet even providing young children with child-friendly definitions of sophisticated words can be a challenge. First, the authors outline the components of a…

Although shared book reading is an extensively studied activity with young children, limited research has focused on typical, holistic patterns of teacher--child interactions during this routine classroom activity. This study sought to describe profiles of teacher talk during shared book reading in 98 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms.…

Theory and research have demonstrated the importance of teacher scaffolding to facilitate effective classroom conversations during shared book reading. When teachers scaffold conversations, young students can develop language skills more quickly. The authors describe a scaffolding framework and findings from research on how open-ended questions…