Background/Context: Over the past five decades, policymakers have introduced Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programs in education as a reform in the presence of "government failure," aiming to increase the freedom of school choice, educational productive efficiency, and social equity. While the evidence regarding charters in US is…

Executive function is an umbrella term involving working memory, planning, organization, social inhibition, self-regulation, and cognitive flexibility. It is an area where many students with disabilities struggle. This column describes practical ways to enhance executive functioning in students with disabilities using the universal design for…

The presented study focuses on children aged from 5 to 6.5 who attend Czech kindergartens. Its purpose is to explore a potential positive impact of an educational game application on malleability of children's spatial skills through the application usage. The research was conducted as a pedagogical experiment in which the pre-test and post-test…

This study explored the effects of pedagogical approaches on Title I kindergarten students' executive function (EF) and academic achievement to test the hypothesis that children, especially those from low socioeconomic backgrounds, will benefit when purposeful play is incorporated into learning. Students in the play-based group generally had…

Executive Functions (EFs) are crucial top-down processes characterized by cool and hot aspects, required for goal-directed behaviour. Only a few studies evaluated and trained concurrently cool and hot EFs. Therefore, we promote a training aiming to enhance both EFs components. A total of 91 children attending the second year of kindergarten were…

Although most early-childhood educators agree on the value of play in child development, they find it increasingly harder to advocate for play given today's pressure for academic achievement. Using the theoretical work of Lev Vygotsky, the authors discuss how make-believe play among children helps them develop skills critical for success in school…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine teachers' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about executive functions utilized in reading instruction of kindergarten through third-grade students. This research study used open-ended, semi-structured interview questions to gain a better understanding of what teachers know and…

Behavioral self-regulation supports young children's learning and is a strong predictor of later academic achievement. The capacity to manage one's attention and control one's behavior is commonly measured via direct assessments of executive function (EF). However, to understand how EF skills contribute to academic achievement, it is helpful to…

Behavioral self-regulation supports young children's learning and is a strong predictor of later academic achievement. The capacity to manage one's attention and control one's behavior is commonly measured via direct assessments of executive function (EF). However, to understand how EF skills contribute to academic achievement, it is helpful to…

Many kindergarten teachers have encountered children who enter school lacking the ability to control their behavior, but they may not understand the social and biological processes behind these children's disruptive behavior. The author reviews research into early childhood brain development to explain how trauma and chronic stress can make it…

It is widely believed that children's social-emotional growth and academic learning are inextricably connected. Pressured by high-stakes assessments, however, school professionals find it difficult to devote adequate time to children's social/behavioral development. As a response, we developed and piloted Social-Emotional Learning Foundations…

The aim of this study was to examine co-variation in the development of self-regulatory skills evident in pre-kindergarten and evaluate the implications of that variation for school adjustment in kindergarten and first grade. Measures of self-regulatory skill development included: direct assessments of EF (executive function) (e.g., Peg Tapping,…

In 2013-14, Letterland had strong implementation, with moderate to high fidelity within approximately 90% of Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) K-1 classrooms. The impact of Letterland on students' reading achievement was neutral to positive. A significantly higher percentage of WCPSS kindergarten students were at or above benchmark mid-year…

California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 established transitional kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for students affected by the change in the birthdate cutoff for entry into kindergarten from December 2 to September 1. This final report from the program's evaluation focuses on results from a five-year…

California's Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 established transitional kindergarten (TK), the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for students affected by the change in the birthdate cutoff for entry into kindergarten from December 2 to September 1. This fifth short report in a series highlighting findings from the Study of…