Author: Elizabeth Votruba-DrzalPublisher:
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Languages : en
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Book Description
When children enter first-grade they are not equally ready to learn. Some have developed better cognitive and socioemotional skills that are important for early school success. Children from low-income families are particularly at risk, as they tend to have lower scores on measures of school readiness than their more economically advantaged counterparts. Developmental differences when children start school are concerning since these disparities often persist and are even exacerbated beyond the early years of school. The goal of this dissertation is to advance our understanding of the environmental origins of economic disparities in school readiness and early academic achievement with implications for policy and practice. It examines the influence of three key environments---home, child care, and kindergarten---on children's development during the transition to school and into the early school years in three integrated studies. By synthesizing across three studies, it provides the means to consider the relative effectiveness of different strategies for promoting academic success among at-risk children.