Research Findings: This study examined the association between preschool children's social-emotional competence (SEC), defined by their social skills and problem behaviors, and numeracy skills. It also examined if any subdomains of SEC predicted preschool numeracy above and beyond latent social skills or problem behaviors variables. Data came from…

The field of education has long emphasized the importance of kindergarten teachers perceiving and understanding students' thoughts and feelings and expressing concern, commonly referred to as teacher empathy. However, little work has focused on the "cost of caring," such as compassion fatigue, particularly among kindergarten teachers,…

This study aims to examine the predictive role of parent-child interaction on children's self-regulation skills during the preschool period. The study was conducted on a sample consisting of 219 children aged 5-6 and their mothers, selected using convenience sampling method. In the research, mothers' interactions with their children were evaluated…

War poses a unique crisis situation for special education teachers, with uncertainty, lack of resources, and fears for their own and their students' safety, compounded by a complex student population. This study explored Israeli special education preschool teachers' stress and well-being in the war that began on October 7, 2023, focusing on how…

Teachers' social and emotional learning (SEL) beliefs can impact SEL implementation efforts and consistency in primary and secondary schools. The diffusion of innovations theory is a suitable framework for understanding problems with SEL implementation and diffusion within educational organizations and among teachers over time. The purpose of this…

Background/purpose: Executive functions are generally considered crucial for an individual's capacity to adapt. This also applies to the domain of professional competencies. However, relatively few scientific studies have specifically examined the role of executive functions in relation to teachers' professional competencies. Didactic competencies…

Background: Universal Prekindergarten (UPK) programs often expand by offering Pre-K in both public schools and in community-based providers (CBOs). This approach gives families more options and allow UPK programs to increase access more quickly. However, little is known about which CBOs select into these systems. This is an important gap in the…

Self-regulation is arguably one of the most crucial predictors of school readiness, academic achievement, and lifelong well-being. While educators in the prior-to-school years have a pivotal role to play in stimulating growth in early self-regulation, less is known about their knowledge and practices in this area. This interview study was…

There is limited research examining peer victimization (PV) experiences in early childhood, particularly during the transition from preschool to kindergarten. Given the gaps in the PV literature among this young population and the need for earlier PV prevention and intervention efforts, the current study advances the literature by examining: (1)…

The importance of early literacy skills is well established in previous studies; reading abilities and academic success in later grades depend on the foundational early literacy skills developed in preschools. However, little is known about preschool teachers' understanding of the impact of speech sound disorder (SSD) on early literacy skills.…

Child temperament is a predictor of non-verbal ability (i.e., thinking and problem-solving skills that do not fundamentally require verbal language production and comprehension). Given that temperament scores might vary depending on whether the reporter is a parent or a teacher, this study analyzes (a) whether those reports are different and (b)…

Despite support for the importance of early language environments, little is known about the naturally occurring experiences children have in preschool settings. The current study sample included 91 children (M[subscript age] = 4.72 years; 56% male; 67% White) from 23 preschool classrooms and nearly 1500 h of language environment data from three…

Although teacher social-emotional competence (SEC) has been recognized as a crucial indicator of teacher professional development as well as an effective predictor of their psychological well-being, little is known about how teachers' SEC contributes to job burnout. The objectives of the present research were to explore the impact of SEC on job…

Introduction: The current study examined the extent to which static and dynamic measures of vocabulary and word learning predicted response and identified poor responders to a vocabulary intervention. Methods: Participants were 46 preschool children in classrooms randomly assigned to complete the Story Friends intervention in two…

The purpose of this study was to explore factors associated with parents' reporting that their child had been involved in bullying in preschool. A total of 857 parents responded to a digital survey, of which 14% (119) indicated that their child had been involved in conflicts that they would describe as bullying. Hierarchical logistic regression…