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There is need and opportunity for assessments that support quick and playful--yet also accurate, rigorous and developmentally sensitive--appraisals of early numeracy. Ideally, these should be accessible to those who have opportunity to support children's learning development and ultimately shift children's trajectories. The iPad-based "Early Years Toolbox (EYT) Early Numeracy" assessment was developed and evaluated to determine its validity and reliability, and appropriateness of use by researchers and preschool educators. Results from two studies with 246 children aged 3-5 years indicated the following: construct validity and internal consistency, concurrent validity with established measures, developmental sensitivity, test--retest reliability and highly comparable results whether used by a researcher or an educator. This yields a brief and playful assessment of early numeracy and a potential approach to develop broad-use early years assessments.

Many children start school developmentally vulnerable and struggle to keep up with their peers. Children experiencing socioeconomic-disadvantage are at higher risk of poor developmental outcomes. A high-quality education and wrap-around community-service model, such as the Doveton Model, at Doveton College, Australia, may improve outcomes for families experiencing entrenched disadvantage. This study focussed on the effect of this model on early-learning (pre-formal schooling) for school entry readiness and academic achievement over the subsequent four years. Students who did/did not attend the Doveton Model Early-Learning-Centre were compared using standard reading, oral-language, writing and numeracy tests from school-entry to Year 3. There was a trend towards higher academic achievement for students who attended Doveton early-learning compared to students who had not. Many tests showed statistically significant differences, despite low sample sizes. This study provides preliminary evidence that attending early-learning within a high-quality, wrap-around service model may have significant academic benefits for disadvantaged children.

This study explores how various measures of home learning environment (HLE) collected at different ages are related to each other and explores associations when the effects of significant child and family characteristics are controlled for. Different age-appropriate measures of the HLE were constructed at ages 3, 7, 11, and 14. The measures were derived from parents' reports (3, 7, and 11), but at age 14 both adolescents' self-reports and parents' questionnaires responses were used. Multilevel models tested the effects of earlier measures of HLE on later measures, while the same set of individual and family characteristics were controlled. The early years HLE measure was a significant predictor of later measures of HLE across different phases of education (primary and secondary school). The strength of the relationships between different HLE measures depended on the time lag between measurements but also on the nature of the activities covered in each dimension.

The widely and internationally replicated socioeconomic status (SES) gradient of executive function (EF) implies that intervention approaches may do well to extrapolate conditions and practices from contexts that generate better child outcomes (in this case, higher SES circumstances) and translate these to contexts with comparatively poorer outcomes (often low-SES populations). Yet, can the reverse also be true? Using data from equivalent assessments of 1,092 pre-schoolers' EFs in South Africa and Australia, we evaluated: the SES gradient of EF within each sample; and whether this SES gradient extended cross-culturally. The oft-found EF-SES gradients were replicated in both samples. However, contrary to the inferences of EF-SES associations found nationally, the most highly disadvantaged South African subsample outperformed middle- and high-SES Australian pre-schoolers on two of three EFs. This suggests the possibility of EF-protective and -promotive practices within low- and middle-income countries that may aid understandings of the nature and promotion of EFs.

Research increasingly acknowledges the importance of high quality interactions that support and extend children's thinking. Few measurement tools currently exist, however, to capture this specific aspect of process quality. The Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale was developed to assess interactional quality in early childhood education and care, and it includes dimensions of process quality based on developmental theories and practice in effective settings. This study compared ratings on the SSTEW and Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale -- Extension (ECERS-E) to consider the impact of varying levels of curricular and interactional quality on child development in 45 Australian pre-school centres; namely the language, numeracy and socio-behavioural development of 669 children at the end of their pre-school year. Results indicated a level of predictive validity for interactional quality ratings as measured by SSTEW which, while related to curricular quality ratings on ECERS-E, differed in associations across domains of child development.

This study examines associations between Australia's regulatory ratings of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC)--the National Quality Standard (NQS)--and two research-based quality rating scales. The analytic sample consisted of 257 ECEC services across three Australian states. Results indicated (1) modest positive associations between NQS ratings and scale scores; (2) some specificity between NQS quality areas (educational programs and practice; relationships with children) and one research scale--the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale; (3) variability in quality scales scores within each NQS designation; and (4) mitigation of these associations when the time-gap between ratings exceeded 24 months. Findings suggest NQS and research scales tap some common core of quality, yet capture different aspects of quality, suggesting both could be used to raise standards of quality in Australian preschools, where the research scales potentiate raising quality to even higher levels than NQS.

Specialized preschool programs can enhance the development of vulnerable young children at risk of special educational needs (SEN). Less is known about the potential of early childhood education and care (ECEC) provided for the general population. This study includes 2,857 children attending 141 ECEC centres in England and 310 with no ECEC. ECEC quality and effectiveness were assessed. Children's scores on assessments of cognitive development, numeracy, and literacy, and teacher reports of socio-emotional problems at ages 5, 7, 11, and 16 years were used to identify risk of SEN (1 standard deviation beyond the mean). Trend analyses (none vs. low, medium, and high ECEC quality or effectiveness) examined impact of ECEC on risk for cognitive or socio-emotional SEN. Better quality and more effective ECEC reduced risk of cognitive SEN at 5, 11, and 16 years of age, with similar results for socio-emotional SEN. The discussion considers the consistency of the association between children's ECEC experience and risk for SEN, which is found for alternative measures of ECEC, quality derived from observations and effectiveness derived from progress in child outcomes. These different sources for the ECEC measures add credibility to the results. Also the implications for policy and practice are discussed including the recommendation for universal provision of high quality ECEC and ensuring that the most at-risk populations receive the best ECEC available.

Individuals with the short variant of the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region gene are more susceptible than individuals homozygous for the long allele to the effects of stressful life events on risk for internalizing and externalizing problems. We tested whether individual differences in coping style explained this increased risk for problem behavior among youth who were at both genetic and environmental risk. Participants included 279 children, ages 8-11, from the Children's Experiences and Development Study. Caregivers and teachers reported on children's internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and caregivers and children on children's exposure to harsh parenting and parental warmth in middle childhood, and traumatic events. Children reported how frequently they used various coping strategies. Results revealed that short/short homozygotes had higher levels of internalizing problems compared with long allele carriers and that short allele carriers had higher levels of externalizing problems compared with long/long homozygotes under conditions of high cumulative risk. Moreover, among children who were homozygous for the short allele, those who had more cumulative risk indicators less frequently used distraction coping strategies, which partly explained why they had higher levels of internalizing problems. Coping strategies did not significantly mediate Gene × Environment effects on externalizing symptoms.

BackgroundGiven mixed findings as to whether stressful experiences and relationships are associated with increases or decreases in children's cortisol reactivity, we tested whether a child's developmental history of risk exposure explained variation in cortisol reactivity to an experimentally induced task. We also tested whether the relationship between cortisol reactivity and children's internalizing and externalizing problems varied as a function of their developmental history of stressful experiences and relationships.MethodParticipants included 400 children (M = 9.99 years, SD = 0.74 years) from the Children's Experiences and Development Study. Early risk exposure was measured by children's experiences of harsh, nonresponsive parenting at 3 years. Recent risk exposure was measured by children's exposure to traumatic events in the past year. Children's cortisol reactivity was measured in response to a social provocation task and parents and teachers described children's internalizing and externalizing problems.ResultsThe effect of recent exposure to traumatic events was partially dependent upon a child's early experiences of harsh, nonresponsive parenting: the more traumatic events children had recently experienced, the greater their cortisol reactivity if they had experienced lower (but not higher) levels of harsh, nonresponsive parenting at age 3. The lowest levels of cortisol reactivity were observed among children who had experienced the most traumatic events in the past year and higher (vs. lower) levels of harsh, nonresponsive parenting in early childhood. Among youth who experienced harsh, nonresponsive parent-child relationships in early childhood and later traumatic events, lower levels of cortisol reactivity were associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing problems.ConclusionsHypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity to psychological stressors and the relationship between HPA axis reactivity and children's internalizing and externalizing problems vary as a function of a child's developmental history of exposure to stressful relationships and experiences.

In countries with universal access to early childhood education and care (ECEC), child participation is high across a range of socioeconomic groups. However, ECEC quality is often varying, and many children spend much time in ECEC settings that are not necessarily high quality. In this observational study, we therefore examined the relationship between observed ECEC quality and children's cognitive development at age three years in Norway--a country that provides universal access to ECEC from age one. The sample comprised 800 children, enrolled in 83 ECEC centers, who were assessed in verbal and non-verbal cognitive ability. ECEC quality was measured with the Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS-R), and cognitive outcomes were measured with the Naming Vocabulary and Picture Similarities subtests of the British Ability Scales III (BAS III). The results showed that children's cognitive development at age three was not associated with ECEC quality; irrespective of socioeconomic background.

Some aspects of child non-cognitive development in pre-school have independently been shown to predict academic outcomes in later primary and early high school. However, the extent to which each aspect uniquely predicts these outcomes remains unclear. It is also unclear as to what mechanisms may predict these aspects of non-cognitive development. To address these issues, the current study sought to explore the antecedents to, and the predictive strength of, prominent aspects of early non-cognitive development (e.g. hyperactivity, pro-social behaviour, peer and conduct problems at 4-5 years of age) on children's academic achievement at 6-11 years of age from a large, longitudinal and nationally representative sample. The study found early hyperactivity to be the strongest predictor of academic achievement at age 10-11 years of age. Further, early hostile parenting styles, child's gender, and parental educational levels were the strongest and most consistent predictors of children's non-cognitive development. Findings from this study further clarify the relational nature of aspects of non-cognitive development and academic outcomes, as well as the factors that best predict early non-cognitive development.

Several methods of assessing executive function (EF), self-regulation, language development, and social development in young children have been developed over previous decades. Yet new technologies make available methods of assessment not previously considered. In resolving conceptual and pragmatic limitations of existing tools, the Early Years Toolbox (EYT) offers substantial advantages for early assessment of language, EF, self-regulation, and social development. In the current study, results of our large-scale administration of this toolbox to 1,764 preschool and early primary school students indicated very good reliability, convergent validity with existing measures, and developmental sensitivity. Results were also suggestive of better capture of children's emerging abilities relative to comparison measures. Preliminary norms are presented, showing a clear developmental trajectory across half-year age groups. The accessibility of the EYT, as well as its advantages over existing measures, offers considerably enhanced opportunities for objective measurement of young children's abilities to enable research and educational applications.

This study investigated whether the amount and timing of group-based childcare between birth and 51 months were predictive of cognitive development at 51 months, taking into account other non-parental childcare, demographic characteristics, cognitive development at 18 months, sensitive parenting and a stimulating home environment. Children's (N=978) cognitive development was assessed at 51 months with four subscales of the British Ability Scales: two verbal and two non-verbal. Mothers were interviewed and observed at 3, 10, 18, and 36 months and the quality of group care was assessed at 10, 18, and 36 months (N=239) if it was used for =12 hours per week. Age of starting in group care and amount were highly associated (r = -0.75). Multiple regressions indicated that, controlling for other factors, higher cognitive development and particularly non-verbal ability was associated with more hours per week in group care from 0 to 51 months, or an earlier start, or group care before age 2. Nevertheless, the majority of variance was explained by other predictors: sex (girl), higher cognitive development at 18 months, older mother, first language English, mother of white ethnic background, with more qualifications, higher family social class, more maternal responsivity at 10 months and a more stimulating home learning environment (HLE) at 36 months. Hours per week in relative care or home-based care were not significant predictors of cognitive scores. For the smaller relatively advantaged sample who had group care quality information (N=239), quality was a marginal predictor of better cognitive development but age of starting group care was not. Most variance was explained by 18 month cognitive development, maternal education, and family social class.

This paper reviews the development of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in China. The historical context from 1900 is summarised, and then developments from the 1980s up to the present kindergarten expansion movement, starting in 2010, are covered in detail. The review shows that ECEC development in China has undergone great changes both in policy and practice. The clash between progressive ideas and existing kindergarten practices has been and remains a challenge. The "cultural appropriateness issue" is of concern, and there are strong voices for keeping valuable aspects of Chinese traditional culture. China has put great efforts recently into boosting kindergarten participation nationwide; yet, there have been and remain great social economic disparities at various levels. There is also growing concern that the programme quality cannot be maintained with the rapid kindergarten expansion process. Policy development for the childcare sector (0-3) in China is relatively thin compared to recent booms for kindergartens.

While research has investigated risk-taking in play for children from the age of four years upwards, less is known of risky play with children under four years. A small-scale observational study with children from five childcare settings with differing characteristics was undertaken to explore the occurrence and characteristics of risky play for children under four years of age, in relation to the current understanding of risky play. The study found similarities across the different contexts, which seem to reflect the characteristics of risky play for children aged one to three years. The findings suggest that the existing definition and characteristics of risky play are appropriate for two- and three-year-old children, but for one-year-olds, the study found discrepancies indicating deviations from existing definitions, indicating that the concept may not be so useful for this age group. To develop understanding of risky play, this article suggests new categories and an adapted definition.

Educational and occupational aspirations have become an important reference point in policy debates about educational inequality. Low aspirations are presented as a major barrier to closing educational attainment gaps and increasing levels of social mobility. Our paper contributes to this on-going debate by presenting data on the educational aspirations of students from the Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education Project in England. We analyse factors that help predict students holding high aspirations. Our findings reveal generally high aspirations across all students but also differences by income group and other background factors. We evaluate the significance of these findings for the existing literature and public policy discussions about the importance of raising educational aspirations. In particular, we question the way in which low aspirations are framed by policy-makers as a major problem in debates around educational inequality.

The Effective Pre-school Provision in Northern Ireland (EPPNI) project is a longitudinal study of child development from 3 to 11 years. It is one of the first large-scale UK projects to investigate the effects of different kinds of preschool provision, and to relate experience in preschool to child development. In EPPNI, 683 children were randomly selected from 80 preschools, and 151 children were recruited without preschool experience. Progress was then followed from age 3 to age 11. Preschool experience was related to age 11 performance in English and mathematics. High-quality preschools show consistent effects that are reflected not only in improved attainment in Key Stage 2 English and mathematics but also in improved progress in mathematics over primary school. Children who attended high-quality preschools were 2.4 times more likely in English, and 3.4 times more likely in mathematics, to attain Level 5 than children without preschool experience. (Contains 4 tables.)

This paper illustrates how high-quality preschool has the potential to serve as an intervention within normal populations. Although it is well known that targeted Early Interventions can protect the development of young children from developmental risks, there remains less evidence concerning universal preschool education. To address this disparity, a longitudinal secondary analysis was conducted that examined the psychological development of 2,862 English preschoolers between the ages of 3 to 5 years. A series of aggregated multilevel structural equation models indicated that at age 5 years, instances of significantly protected development were more strongly evidenced when examining (a) cognitive rather than social development, (b) child rather than family-level risks, and (c) the quality of the processes taking place within preschools rather than just the structures. Finally, for preschools that featured only high-quality structures, any partial protection of development was limited to instances of longer durations of child attendance. (Contains 6 tables and 3 figures.)

Understanding how we can support children through their learning life course has become a policy imperative, particularly those children from poor homes who would normally be facing a low achiever trajectory. The paper reports on 50 in-depth Child and Family Case Studies (CFCS) that were conducted as part of the Effective Provision of Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPSE 3-16) research project. The CFCS was designed as a mixed methods study in order to look at why and when certain children manage to succeed "against the odds" while others do not. Using in-depth interviews with students, parents and teachers, quantitative data available from EPPSE and a literature review on risk and resilience, the CFCS provides "thick descriptions" and explanations of how child, family and school factors interact and contribute to children succeeding against the odds of disadvantage. The study uses over 13 years of data collected from the 50 families and shows that in families with children "succeeding against the odds", parenting is characterised by "active cultivation" and that schools, teachers, peers and the wider community contribute to children's academic success by providing emotional, practical and relational support. As a result these children are facilitated and encouraged to develop a combination of positive cognitive and sociobehavioural characteristics that helps them become active agents in their learning life course. The CFCS provide information that can be of use to both policymakers and practitioners. It has implications for parenting and home-school relations and may serve to inform policies and practices that aim to increase the chances of children "at risk" and help in closing the gap between those who are academically and socially advantaged and disadvantaged.

This article reports the effects of pre-school quality on children's cognitive and behavioural outcomes at age 11 using a large-scale longitudinal study of 3000+ children in England (EPPE/EPPSE). The ECERS-R and a curricular extension to it (ECERS-E) were used to assess the quality of provision in 141 pre-school settings attended by the children. The quality measures were derived from observations throughout the day of interactions and resources related to Literacy, Numeracy and Science learning, as well as observational/interview data related to how each centre catered to diverse needs of children. Multi-level modelling was used to investigate the effects of pre-school quality on children's academic and social-behavioural outcomes at age 11. Pre-school quality significantly predicted most outcomes, after taking account of key child and family factors. More importantly, children who attended low quality pre-schools had cognitive and behavioural scores that were not significantly different from those of children with no pre-school experience. The methods and findings of this large-scale study are considered in terms of the strengths and limitations of "educational effectiveness" designs. It is suggested that mixed methods designs can address many of the limitations. (Contains 9 figures.)

The early identification of young children's special educational needs (SEN), as well as the development of specific strategies to support those children identified with special needs, are increasingly recognised as crucial to facilitating good adjustment to school and to ensuring that such children are helped to reach their full potential in education. Using a large national sample of young children in England whose developmental progress was followed up from pre-school, this study investigates which child, family, home and pre-school factors can be viewed as risk or protective factors for later SEN-status at age 10. The experience of high-quality pre-school education is shown to reduce the likelihood of a child being identified as experiencing SEN in the long run. Teachers' assessments of SEN are found to be strongly related to children's reading and mathematics attainment, but other factors also predict SEN, including a child's age within a year group. (Contains 5 tables.)

In studies of child development, the combined effect of multiple risks acting in unison has been represented in a variety of ways. This investigation builds upon this preceding work and presents a new procedure for capturing the combined effect of multiple risks. A representative sample of 2,899 British children had their cognitive development measured at 36 and 58 months of age along with 10 potential risks during this period of development. Comparing a cumulative index of these risks against the previously undocumented alternative of confirmatory factor analysis using formative measurement, this study found differences favouring the factor analysis. The factor analysis procedure demonstrated greater predictive power of children's cognitive development while it systematically tested two of the assumptions implicit in cumulative risk indices.

The study reported here investigates the role of pre-school education as a protective factor in the development of children who are at risk due to environmental and individual factors. This investigation builds upon earlier research by examining different kinds of "quality" in early education and tests the hypothesis that pre-schools of high quality can moderate the impacts of risks upon cognitive development. Cognitive development was measured in 2857 English pre-schoolers at 36 and 58 months of age, together with 22 individual risks to children's development, and assessments were made of the quality of their pre-school provision. Multilevel Structural Equation Modelling revealed that: the global quality of pre-school can moderate the effects of "familial" risk (such as poverty); the relationships between staff and children can moderate the effects of "child" level risk (such as low birth weight); and the specific quality of curricular provision can moderate the effects of both. Policy makers need to take quality into account in their efforts to promote resilience in young "at risk" children through early childhood services. (Contains 5 tables and 3 figures.)

The introduction of the Foundation Stage and its associated legislation has constituted a radical innovation that is transforming early childhood education. In this paper we show how the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) research programme continues to contribute towards achieving these improvements in practice. In focusing upon the EPPE programme's influence upon pedagogic practice in particular, the paper draws predominantly upon the research findings and recommendations associated with our qualitative case studies. This work was first published in the Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY) report in 2002, and in the EPPE Technical Paper 10 in 2003. Practitioners respond positively to research when it is focused on specific teaching and learning contexts and practices. The EPPE project therefore applied Environment Rating Scales to identify the quality of educational provision, and used multilevel analysis to isolate the independent variables of most significance in explaining variations in the progress and development of young children during their time in pre-school. The multi-level analysis identified 'good' and 'excellent' centres, based on measurable child outcomes. Twelve of these centres were selected for in-depth qualitative case study enquiries that both extended and triangulated the quantitative analysis. This paper shows how the qualitative findings, as well as some of the data that they have been drawn from, have subsequently been applied to provide the practical guidance and exemplar resources needed in the development and improvement of early years educational practice.

Background: An area-based initiative, Sure Start Local Programmes (SSLPs), was established by the UK government to reduce social exclusion through improving the well-being of children aged 0-3 years and their families in disadvantaged communities; a true community intervention in that all children under four and their families in specified areas served as targets of universal services. A national evaluation examined the links between variation in programme implementation and effectiveness. Methods: Data gathered from multiple sources produced measures of implementation in terms of proficiency, services and staffing. Measures of programme impact on child/parenting outcomes derived from multilevel models, controlling for child, family and area characteristics, were identified to demonstrate programme effectiveness. Results: Some modest linkage between programme implementation (e.g., proficiency, empowerment of parents and staff, identification of users) and effectiveness for child and parenting outcomes. Conclusions: Overall proficiency and specific aspects of implementation may influence effectiveness, which should guide the design of other child, family and community services.