Head Start is a national program that helps young children from families with low incomes get ready to succeed in school. It does this by working to promote their early learning and health and their families' well-being. The Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) provides national information about Head Start programs and…

When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) became law in 2002, it was viewed as an effort to create uniform standards for students and schools across the country. More than a decade later, we know surprisingly little about how states actually implemented NCLB and the extent to which state implementation decisions managed to undo the centralizing objectives…

This research critically analyzes the introduction of the Express Entry system in Canada, requiring foreign nationals to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) and wait for an invitation before being allowed to apply for permanent residence. Drawing on available empirical data, I argue that this reform jeopardized international students' chance to…

Prevent-Teach-Reinforce for Young Children (PTR-YC) is a standardized model of positive behavior support designed to deliver individualized interventions for preschool-aged children with severe and persistent challenging behaviors. A randomized controlled trial was conducted to compare effects of PTR-YC with those of a "business as…

A growing body of research has been documenting the pivotal role that philanthropic funding plays in advancing state and local charter school reform. However, there is little understanding of the geographic flow of these funding patterns and the market, policy, and organizational conditions that have concentrated funding in some clusters of states…

Purpose/Objectives: This study assessed current practices and attitudes of school nutrition program (SNP) management staff regarding free and reduced-price (F-RP) meal application and verification in SNPs. Methods: Stratified, randomly selected 1,500 SNP management staff in 14 states received a link to an online questionnaire and/or a printed…

The present study examined representational and non-representational activities in which children in a Head Start classroom participated. This was an investigation from the perspective of cultural-historical activity theory of how components (e.g. artifacts and division of labour) of classroom activities vary across and within types of activities.…

Kindergarten has become increasingly academically oriented, and U.S. kindergarten teachers are increasingly called upon to implement policies that require assessment and promote accountability. However, little recent research has focused on kindergarten teachers' beliefs about kindergarten readiness. The authors examined teachers' beliefs related…

Surveys often spend substantial money on multiple mailings and telephone calls to ensure high overall response rates and adequate representation of hard-to-reach demographic subgroups. We examine the extent to which an additional mailing and additional sets of telephone calls are effective in attaining these goals across a variety of subgroups in…

Research Findings: The current study examined the impact of daily classroom computer use on the cognitive development of preschool children in 14 urban Head Start classrooms. The sample consisted of 208 predominantly African American low-income children with a mean age of 48.8 months. A quasi-experimental design was used in which 7 classrooms had…

Using nationally representative data from the Family and Child Experiences Survey 2009 cohort (n = 2,842), this study examined the implications of 3- and 4-year-old's absences from Head Start for their early academic learning. The findings from this study revealed that children who missed more days of school, and especially those who were…

We examined the associations between preschool attendance and academic school readiness at kindergarten entry among 5-year-old children of immigrant mothers in the United States using data from a US nationally representative sample (Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort, N = 1650). Comparing children who were in preschool (Head Start,…

Purpose: This article examines the timing of changes of key educational process indicators within three groups of elementary schools after No Child Left Behind (NCLB) implementation--schools that met adequate yearly progress targets consistently, schools that entered restructuring due to prolonged academic failure but failed to exit, and schools…

Background: We tested the effectiveness of the Go Wild With Fruits and Veggies! (GWWFV) Extension curriculum on increasing fruit and vegetable (FV) intake of third graders. Methods: An intervention study was used testing self-reported FV intake pre/post GWWFV. Recruited schools were randomized to control (12 schools, N = 369, third grade children)…

Classroom quality is critical for young children's learning, yet evidence suggests that the quality of early care and education (ECE) classrooms varies widely, even within federally administered Head Start. This study uses data from the nationally representative Head Start Impact Study to examine variation in children's access to formal and…