Inhibitory Control (IC), a vital facet of childhood development, involves the ability to suppress a dominant response, as well as the ability to suppress irrelevant thoughts and behaviors. This ability emerges during the first year of life and develops rapidly during the preschool years. A variety of tasks have been developed to measure IC in this age group and, recently, research has demonstrated important differences in task performance according to various distinctions among these tasks. One under-researched distinction is that of whether an IC task requires the child to give a verbal or a motoric response. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine, in 4-year-old children, the differences and similarities among IC tasks requiring either a verbal or a motoric response. Differences were explored with respect to the contributions to verbal and motoric IC performance of language, intelligence, temperament, and frontal encephalography, as well as with respect to social and school readiness outcomes. IC was best described by a two-component model, distinguishing verbal and motoric IC. Both baseline and task electrophysiology contributed to task performance in the verbal Yes-No task as well as the motoric IC composite. Language and intelligence, too, were associated with both verbal and motoric IC, although nonverbal intelligence was less strongly correlated with verbal IC than it was with motoric IC. All laboratory measures of IC related to parent report of children’s IC as well as to other parent-reported temperament scales and factors. Children’s verbal and motoric IC were associated, too, with children’s social development, surprisingly showing the most consistent associations with social inhibition. Asocial behavior positively correlated more strongly with motoric IC than with verbal IC. Children’s laboratory IC positively correlated with their school readiness, even when controlling for their intelligence although children’s emergent literacy more positively related to their motoric, rather than verbal, IC. An interaction of intelligence and IC contributed to social variables, but not to school readiness. This research supports the important distinction between verbal and motoric IC, and demonstrates the utility of including an array of measures of both in early childhood research. / Ph. D.

Although many children enter kindergarten having some form of preschool experience, the quality of these experiences differs greatly among the programs that are available to families. This variability can create school readiness gaps, especially for children from disadvantaged backgrounds (Isaacs, 2012). Children not being ready for school has come to the attention of stakeholders around the country and in the Commonwealth of Virginia. According to a state-wide study, approximately 30% of the students entering Virginia's schools either were not ready academically and/or behaviorally (Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission [JLARC], 2017). Fortunately, the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) program was created to give students with the greatest risk of school failure an opportunity to overcome potential learning obstacles. The general purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a state-funded prekindergarten program in a rural school division in Central Virginia. Specifically, this study examined academic and behavioral data for four cohorts of kindergarten students to determine if students who participated in the VPI program performed better on school readiness measures compared to their peers without any preschool or prekindergarten experience. Two-tailed t-tests were used to determine if any significant differences existed on measures of literacy, mathematics, self-regulation, and social skills between students who attended a state-funded prekindergarten program to their peers without any prekindergarten or preschool experience. / Doctor of Education / Children not being ready for school has come to the attention of stakeholders around the country and in the Commonwealth of Virginia. According to a state-wide study, approximately 30% of the students entering Virginia's schools either were not ready academically and/or behaviorally (Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission [JLARC], 2017). Fortunately, the Virginia Preschool Initiative (VPI) program was created to give the students with the greatest risk of school failure an opportunity to overcome potential learning obstacles. The general purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a state-funded prekindergarten program in a rural school division in Central Virginia. Specifically, this study examined academic and behavioral data for four cohorts of kindergarten students to determine if students who participated in the VPI program performed better on school readiness measures compared to their peers without any preschool or prekindergarten experience.

The thesis deals with school maturity, stage of psychological evolution in the preschool and the early school age. The solution will view parents of future pupils from three primary schools Kladno on school readiness and the onset of schooling and in this sense, the results of the survey are compared. The theoretical part will solve the view of a child under school age from various angles, his cognitive development, socialization and the other. Furthermore, I will deal with school maturity and readiness, cognitive, somatic and emotional level of development of the child at the onset of schooling. Three elementary schools, where research was conducted, will be presented in detail .The practical part analyzes the survey, carried out on the day of enrollment in the first grade of Primary School in Kladno, C. Bouda 1188 of 2011, which I repeated three years later and expanded research on Elementary School Kladno, Vašatova and Primary School Kladno, Vodárenská. By gaining survey results from three of parents interested in education of future first-graders is created.

Extensive research on the development of self-regulation has demonstrated that better executive functioning and effortful control during the preschool years are associated with greater kindergarten and early school achievement. Recent findings suggest that self-regulation tasks differ in their assessment of “hot” and “cool” regulation, how these processes map onto effortful control and executive functioning, and may predict school readiness. However, only a few studies have examined the validity of hot and cool regulation tasks (Allan & Lonigan, 2014; Di Norcia, Pecora, Bombi, Baumgartner, & Laghi, 2015; Willoughby, Kupersmidt, Voegler-Lee, & Bryant, 2011), and how they predict socio-emotional competence (Di Norcia et al., 2015) and academic performance (Kim, Nordling, Yoon, Boldt, & Kochanska, 2013). The current study examined the validity of hot and cool tasks as measures of self-regulation and predictive measures of school readiness within a low-income sample. The sample consisted of 64 preschoolers between the ages of three (n= 38) and four (n= 26) who were enrolled in a blended Head Start program. The Preschooler Self-Regulation Assessment, Woodcock Johnson subtests (Letter Word, Applied Problem, and Picture Vocabulary), and teacher ratings of social competence (Social Competence and Behavioral Evaluation) and emotional competence (Emotion Regulation Checklist) were collected in the fall and spring of the school year. Results indicated that performance on the Cool and Hot tasks was moderate to highly correlated with academic performance and teacher ratings of socio-emotional competence respectively. Developmental differences in selfregulation performance suggested that cool regulation begins to develop later in the preschool period and may depend on earlier development of hot regulatory processes. There were also gains in academic achievement and socio-emotional competence from fall to spring. Regression analyses indicated that Hot and Cool tasks did not predict socio-emotional competence and academic achievement as distinctively as expected. Hot and cool regulation seemed to predict socio-emotional competence and academic achievement in parallel, with the exception of math performance, which was strongly predicted by Cool task performance above and beyond Hot tasks. Results suggest that hot and cool regulation overlap in predicting school readiness.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a transitional first grade program on the attitude and readiness scores of a group of regular first grade students who qualified for the transitional program but attended regular first grade (control group) and a group of transitional first grade students (experimental group). The study utilized a pretest/posttest design. The regular first grade students received formal instruction in all academic areas. The experimental group received no formal instruction.

Executive function (EF) and theory of mind (ToM) skills develop rapidly during the preschool years and have been found to directly and indirectly contribute to school readiness. Evidence indicates that EF may influence ToM development, though this relation may not be consistent across children from different backgrounds. Additionally, socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to affect preschoolers’ EF, while the literature is mixed regarding the effects – if any – that SES may have on ToM development. Though the relation between EF and ToM appears robust across the literature, the possible effects of SES on this relation have yet to be fully explored. As children from low-SES homes are more likely to fall behind at the start of school, and this achievement gap is likely to widen through the school years, it is important to understand how the cognitive components that contribute to school readiness develop and are affected by SES so that we may work toward improving preschool education for children across all socioeconomic backgrounds. The primary purpose of the current study was to determine whether SES affected the relation between EF and ToM among urban preschool children (ages 3-5 years) from various SES backgrounds. In addition to examining the EF-ToM relation, relations among SES, general cognitive skills, EF, and ToM, as well as relations among age, EF, and ToM, were examined. Results from correlational and regression analyses indicated that SES was related to EF but not ToM, and that EF was not related to ToM after controlling for age. Inconsistent with the majority of previous findings, the results did not support the hypothesized link between EF and ToM. However, the findings from this study do add support to the large body of literature pertaining to the positive relation between SES and EF, and provide evidence that ToM may be relatively protected from the negative effects of low-SES among preschoolers. Results also support previous reports of large age-related changes in EF and ToM that occur during the preschool years. The implications for preschool development and education are discussed.

The current study examined the extent to which associations between participation in a targeted state-funded pre-kindergarten (pre-k) program and children’s literacy, numeracy, executive function (EF), and social-emotional skills were moderated by the quality of teacher-child interactions. Data came from an evaluation of a state-funded pre-k program including children enrolled in pre-k and those in a matched comparison group. The sample consisted of 558 children (Mage = 57.74 months) from two cohorts (48.9% female; 43.7% African American; 0.8% Asian; 32.3% European American; 12.4% Hispanic; 10.4% Multiracial). Children’s school readiness assessments and teacher surveys were collected during fall and spring of the preschool year. Research assistants assessed teacher-child interactions using the Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, Hamre, 2008) once in the winter of the preschool year. Two-level multilevel linear models were conducted for each school readiness domain and included a variety of control variables. Results suggested that emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support did not significantly moderate the relation between pre-k participation and literacy, numeracy, EF, and social-emotional skills.

<div>This dissertation includes two studies. The first study investigated longitudinal associations between the home and classroom environments at age 3 and academic and social outcomes at age 9 as well as the mediating role of attention regulation and language in these associations. Study 2 examined the continuity and change in the level of the quality of the home environment across ages 3 to 5 and its association with school readiness outcomes at age 5. Data for both studies came from four waves (baseline, age 3, 5 and 9) from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study, which includes 4898 children (52.4% male) and primary caregivers. Twenty one percent of the mothers for the total sample were White, 47% were Black, 27% were Hispanic, and 4% identified as other. Sixty five percent of mothers had an education level of high school or less, 24% completed some college, 11% had a college degree or higher. Results for study 1 indicated that better quality home and classroom environments at age 3 were related to stronger language skills at age 5, and the quality of the classroom environment was significantly related to better attention regulation at age 5. Further, mediation analyses indicated that children’s language skills at age 5 mediated the associations between both early contexts and later academic skills, and attention regulation at age 5 mediated associations between the classroom environment and later academic skills. Results for study 2 indicated that there was not stability in the quality of the home environment between the ages of 3 to 5. In addition, higher quality home environments at age 3 and change in the quality of the home environment predicted greater gains in children’s attention regulation, language, and social emotional competence. Taken together, findings from these studies inform our understanding of the importance of early environments for children’s school readiness and later skills and have potential implications for future research, policy, and interventions designed to promote healthy development in early and middle childhood. <br></div>

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between home environment and school readiness of children entering kindergarten in a rural East Tennessee county. Family and home environment variables included family income, family structure, parents' education, participation in literacy activities, availability of home learning tools, and amount of children's television viewing. A self-reported parent survey was used to gather information about the family environment; the Brigance K Screen was used to determine entering kindergartner's readiness for school. Three hundred and thirty eight children and parents participated. An initial analysis of data incorporated simple descriptive statistics in the form of frequency tables. To examine the relationships between the dependent variable (Brigance scores) and independent variables (family characteristics/environment), Kendall's tau-b and Cramer's V were used. Independent sample t-tests and analyses of variance (ANOVAs) analyzed differences in Brigance scores between groups. Finally, a hierarchical multiple regression analysis determined if kindergarten readiness could be predicted by specific variables: socioeconomic status, literary resources, and literacy activities. The analysis of relationships in this study indicated that family income was more closely related to success on the Brigance K Screen than any other variable; next in importance were the levels of fathers' education and mothers' education. Significant positive correlations also indicated the value of parents reading to their children, educational outings, availability of educational tools--specifically, a home computer, family structure, mealtime conversation, and the number of children's books in the home. A significant negative correlation was found between the duration of television viewing and Brigance scores; increased television viewing time was significantly related to lower test scores. ANOVAs and t-tests indicated significant differences in total Brigance scores of prekindergarten students from different socioeconomic status groups based on family structure, family income, and parents' education levels. Children from two-parent homes scored significantly higher than those from other family situations as did children from higher income homes. In addition, parents' education level was reflected in the Brigance scores; more educated parents had children who scored higher than children with less educated parents. The multiple regression analysis reinforced the statistical significance and magnitude of the relationship between socioeconomic factors and school readiness, but literacy resources and literacy activities also accounted for variance in the scores.

The purpose of this study was to compare thirty-two childrens' performances on the Daberon-2 Screening for School Readiness and the Early Screening Inventory , as well as determine whether there was a correlation between the tests. This study responded to the needs of the local Portland, Oregon area schools, some of which use these tests, to investigate the tests, and explore the possibility of using the shorter ESI over the longer Daberon. The reasoning behind the goal of the study was to determine that if the two tests showed a strong, positive correlation and identified the same children as needing further assessment, then perhaps the test which was shorter to administer could be used with confidence as a faster, but equally reliable 2 pre-kindergarten screening tool. In other words, if a child "passes" the Daberon, one could assume that the child would most likely "pass" the ESI as well. Based on the results of this study, one can make this assumption with a reasonable amount of confidence. The subjects in this study included 16 males and 16 females. All were preschool students, ranging in age from 4-6 to 5-6 with a mean age of 5-1 years. The subjects were given the two tests in a counterbalanced order, which also varied as to sex so that not all of one sex received one test first. The standard scores and whether or not each subject "passed" or "failed" each screen was determined. The correlation between the two tests was also determined. The Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was used to determine the degree of relatedness between the tests. A high positive correlation of .73 was found between the Daberon and the ESI, with a shared variance