Early Childhood Research Quarterly 

About: Early Childhood Research Quarterly is an academic journal published by Elsevier BV. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Poison control & Early childhood. It has an ISSN identifier of 0885-2006. Over the lifetime, 1956 publications have been published receiving 110139 citations. The journal is also known as: ECRQ.

When Learning a Second Language Means Losing the First.

Abstract: In societies like the United States with diverse populations, children from linguistic minority families must learn the language of the society in order to take full advantage of the educational opportunities offered by the society. The timing and the conditions under which they come into contact with English, however, can profoundly affect the retention and continued use of their primary languages as well as the development of their second language. This article discusses evidence and findings from a nationwide study of language shift among language-minority children in the U.S. The findings suggest that the loss of a primary language, particularly when it is the only language spoken by parents, can be very costly to the children, their families, and to society as a whole. Immigrant and American Indian families were surveyed to determine the extent to which family language patterns were affected by their children's early learning of English in preschool programs. Families whose children had attended preschool programs conducted exclusively in Spanish served as a base of comparison for the families whose children attended English-only or bilingual preschools. THE PROBLEM In this article, we address a problem in second language learning that has long been acknowledged, but which has not received the attention it deserves from researchers.' Specifically, this article deals with the phenomenon of "subtractive bilingualism," the name given the problem by Wallace Lambert who first discussed it in relation to French-Canadian and Canadian immigrant children whose acquisition of English in school resulted not in bilingualism, but in the erosion or loss of their primary languages (Lambert, * This article was written on behalf of the No-Cost Research Group (NCRG), consisting of the 300 + individuals across the United States who participated in this study, preparing research materials, recruiting and training interviewers, interviewing families, processing and analyzing data and interpreting findings. It includes many members of the National Association for Bilingual Education (NABE), and the No-Cost Research Group acknowledges the support of NABE's national leadership in this effort. Correspondence and requests for reprints should be sent to Lily Wong Fillmore, Professor of Education, Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. ' Merino (1983) and Pan and Berko-Gleason (1986) are notable exceptions.

Teachers’ judgments of problems in the transition to kindergarten

Abstract: This article examined teachers’ judgments of the prevalence and types of problems children present upon entering kindergarten. A large, national sample of teachers (N = 3,595) was surveyed by using the National Center for Early Development and Learning’s Transition Practices Survey (1996) . Teachers reported they perceived that 16% of children had difficult entries into kindergarten. Up to 46% of teachers reported that half their class or more had specific problems in any of a number of areas in kindergarten transition. Rates of perceived problems were related to school minority composition; district poverty level; and, for certain behaviors, school metropolitan status. The effects of these demographic characteristics were independent and additive. Teachers’ ethnicity showed a significant relation to their rates of reported problems. Results are discussed in terms of risk factors that predict transition problems and the match between children’s competencies and teacher’s expectations. These findings confirm the view that entering kindergarten is indeed a period of transition for children.

Ready to learn? Children's pre-academic achievement in pre-Kindergarten programs

Abstract: We examined children's growth in school-related learning and social skills over the pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) year in state-funded programs designed to prepare children for kindergarten. We expected that children's gains in academic and social skills could be attributed to variations in the structural and classroom process dimensions of program quality. Nearly 3000 ( n = 2800) children were randomly selected, four per classroom, from approximately 700 randomly selected, state-funded pre-Kindergarten classrooms in eleven states. Enrollment in pre-K appeared related to gains in academic skills. Children showed larger gains in academic outcomes when they experienced higher-quality instruction or closer teacher–child relationships. Gains were not related to characteristics of the child or program (i.e., ratio, teacher qualifications and program location and length). These findings have implications for a range of state and local policy and program development efforts as well as for theories of contextual influences on development.

Children at risk for early academic problems: the role of learning-related social skills

Abstract: Increasing evidence suggests that aspects of children’s learning-related social skills (including interpersonal skills and work-related skills) contribute to early school performance The present investigation examined the association of work-related skills to academic outcomes at the beginning of kindergarten and at the end of second grade as well as characteristics of children with low work-related skills Children were selected from a sample of 540 children based on low work-related skills scores on the Cooper-Farran Behavioral Rating Scales, a teacher-rated scale Results indicated that work-related skills predicted unique variance in academic outcomes at school entry and at the end of second grade, after controlling for kindergarten academic score and important background variables In addition, children with poor work-related skills ( n = 82) were found to differ from the overall sample on a number of child, family, and sociocultural variables including: significantly lower IQs, more behavior difficulties, and more medical problems, such as hearing and language problems Finally, children with low work-related skills scored lower on academic outcomes at the beginning of kindergarten and at the end of second grade Findings highlight the importance of early work-related skills in understanding successful school transition and early academic achievement

The impact of kindergarten learning-related skills on academic trajectories at the end of elementary school

Abstract: Recent research indicates that children's learning-related skills (including self-regulation and social competence) contribute to early school success. The present study investigated the relation of kindergarten learning-related skills to reading and math trajectories in 538 children between kindergarten and sixth grade, and examined how children with poor learning-related skills fared throughout elementary school on reading and math. Latent growth curves indicated that learning-related skills had a unique effect on children's reading and math scores between kindergarten and sixth grade and predicted growth in reading and math between kindergarten and second grade. In addition, children with poor learning-related skills performed lower than their higher-rated peers on measures of reading and mathematics between kindergarten and sixth grade, with the gap widening between kindergarten and second grade. Between third and sixth grade, this gap persisted but did not widen. Discussion focuses on the importance of early learning-related skills as a component in children's academic trajectories throughout elementary school and the need for early intervention focusing on children's self-regulation and social competence.