Faculty Bibliography

Social-emotional competence in early childhood and the elementary grades is foundational for children's short- and long-term academic, social, mental health, and employment outcomes. This study examined the effects of a large-scale (N = 715) cluster randomized controlled trial of a comprehensive kindergarten program, Tools of the Mind, on teachers"™ reports of children's social-emotional competence at the end of kindergarten with follow-up in first grade. Results indicated that at the end of kindergarten, children in classrooms in schools randomly assigned to the treatment condition had reduced teacher reported behavior problems and aggression and improved self-regulation, social-emotional competence, and positive teacher-child relationships relative to children in classrooms in schools randomly assigned to the control condition. No differences were detected for teacher-reported academic competence. Sustained effects in first grade were seen only for first grade teachers"™ reports of aggression and conduct problems. This study adds to a growing literature demonstrating positive effects of educational programs focusing on children's social-emotional as well as academic competence.

This study examined the association of oral language, including expressive vocabulary and grammar comprehension, with early numeracy skills within and across languages in Spanish"“English speaking Latino children who are dual language learners (DLLs) at the beginning of preschool. Three hundred and forty-two typically developing Spanish"“English speaking DLLs from urban preschool centers serving low-income families participated in this multisite study. Oral language and early numeracy skills were assessed in both Spanish and English at the beginning of the preschool year using standardized assessments. Step-wise regressions using baseline cross-sectional data were completed to determine the association of language skills in Spanish and English with early numeracy skills both within and across languages. Results revealed that a large percentage of the variance in the early numeracy skills of these Latino DLL preschoolers was explained by same language variables including expressive vocabulary and grammar comprehension. These findings suggest a strong association of oral language abilities and early numeracy skills within the same language in Latino Preschool DLLs at the beginning of preschool.