The place of kindergarteners in academia has grown more important in recent years. Increased emphasis on learning at the kindergarten level, however, should not blind educators to the developmental levels of four- and five-year-olds, who may learn most effectively by playing creatively and exploring new language skills. (PGD)

Many parents question whether their children are ready for kindergarten and whether they can succeed. Teachers must determine where students stand as they guide them through their kindergarten skills. Parents can hone their children's kindergarten-readiness skills at home by providing creative, challenging activities that prepare them for the…

The development of an instrument for evaluating cognitive growth in preprimary children by means of observational techniques is reported. Areas of growth in pre-mathematic skills were defined for this purpose as: Imitating, recognizing, classifying, matching, comparing, understanding, counting, computing, and measuring. Each is described, and…

Notes that the practice of delaying school entrance for summer-born children, especially boys, to give them some academic advantage, is not substantiated by sufficient research. Describes a subsequent study indicating higher achievement for children held-out than those entering school on time. Argues for more research and consideration of the…

To examine language outcomes related to language acquisition and academic readiness, this study followed a group of toddlers with slow expressive language development (SELD) through their kindergarten year. Subjects were 27 children between 20 and 34 months who produced fewer than 50 words or no 2-word combinations on L. Resconla's (1989) Language…

An all-day kindergarten program was established in September, 1968 for three classes of Negro and Puerto Rican children at Public School 101 in the East Harlem area of New York City. The objective of the program was to identify and develop the learning styles of the children through a wide variety of school experiences and exposure to multi-media…

This study examined the views of 176 kindergarten teachers regarding those skills children need to be successful in kindergarten. Teachers ranked 149 skills within 5 domains: gross motor, fine motor, general knowledge and school readiness, language, and social. Findings indicated that items related to academic readiness were not seen as critical…

Describes the effects of one community's concept of readiness for school on children in a kindergarten class. Of particular interest was the effect on children's understanding of their roles as students. The concept of readiness provided the framework for instructional activities and helped parents understand their children's roles as students.…

The Parent Teacher Kindergarten Student Assessment instrument (PTKSA) described here was developed over a 4-year period and used extensively at each stage of its revision, with the goal of evolving a feasible and sensitive pre-primary pupil profile or early childhood education inventory. Intended for use by both parents and teachers at the…

In response to California Legislation that would change the cut-off for the minimum 5-year entrance age from December 2 to September 1, this paper reviews the literature discussing the appropriate age for beginning school. The review includes a brief history of kindergarten and its place in California law; discusses the possible impact of the…

The Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (CSAB), a school-readiness test, is administered to all public school students at the beginning of Grade 1 in South Carolina. This test is designed to measure a student's readiness to begin the formal school curriculum. The number of beginning first graders tested in 1992 (54,357) represented a decrease from…

A 30-minute screening battery of tests and subtests selected from the complete 90-minute battery used in USOE Prekindergarten-Kindergarten research plus three locally developed instruments were identified as the most satisfactory single measures of cognitive, motor, auditory, visual, visual-motor coordination, and language development to provide…