Dual Language Learners in the Early Years: Getting Ready to Succeed in School - This paper summarizes research on best practices in preparing young English Language Learners (ELLs) for school. Topics include sources for demographic data, environmental conditions and critical skills that support school readiness and success, screenings and assessments. (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, November 2008)...

The Cognitive Consequences of Early Bilingualism - This article reviews the benefits of fostering bilingualism in young children. Among the benefits discussed are greater self-regulation skills. findings that show that bilingual children are better than their monolingual peers at regulating their thoughts and behaviors and at learning words that have overlapping meanings. Article discusses the benefits of bilingualism in young children. (Hanako Yoshida, Zero to Three, 2008) ...

A National Portrait of Chronic Absenteeism in the Early Grades - This brief is the first in a series examining the causes and consequences of chronic absenteeism during the early school years. The authors contend that efforts to improve access to and the quality of early care and learning also need to encompass strategies to ensure that children are actually in settings that can start them on successful early learning trajectories. If children are not in school, the odds that they will succeed are lessened. (National Center for Children in Poverty, October 2007)...

School Readiness and Later Achievement - Researchers reviewed data from six large, longitudinal, correlational studies to examine the extent to which early cognitive skills, attention skills, and social-emotional development are related to subsequent math and reading skills. In all but one of the studies, behavioral problems were not significantly related to later test scores, leading the authors to conclude that "only three of the school-entry skill categories predict subsequent reading and math achievement: reading/language, math, and attention." Early social-emotional development is very possibly related to other important educational or behavioral outcomes that this study did not examine....

PK-3: What Is It and How Do We Know It Works - This brief argues that by adopting a broader view of early childhood education to encompass a period of pre-k-3rd grade, policy makers can earn better returns on their pre-kindergarten investments. (Bill Graves, Foundation for Child Development, May 2006)...

Preliminary Rural Analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study - This report shows that rural children are more likely than their peers in non-rural communities to be placed in special education in kindergarten. (National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives, May 2005)...

School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps - This issue of The Future of Children focuses on school readiness as a way to understand racial and ethnic gaps in education outcomes. A related brief can be found here: http://futureofchildren.org/futureofchildren/publications/docs/15_01_PolicyBrief.pdf. (Brookings Institution and Princeton University, Spring 2005)...