ABSTRACT Research Findings: A supportive early home environment strengthens behavioral self-regulation (B-SR) in kindergarten children from at-risk families. This study examined the effects of home-based Parents as Teachers (PAT) intervention, family resources, and home environment on B-SR among 248 children from the longitudinal ZEPPELIN project in urban Swiss context. The project applied a RCT to foster educational opportunities in families facing multiple psychosocial risks (73% migrant background). Early family resources (economic, cultural, social) and home environment (cognitive stimulation, warmth/responsivity, physical environment/routines) were assessed through the Home Observation for Measurement of the Early Childhood Environment (HOME-EC) interviews and observations, and B-SR was measured with the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) task in kindergarten at age 5. PAT showed an indirect effect on B-SR in kindergarten via cognitive stimulation, while economic (income) and cultural resources (maternal education) predicted B-SR directly. Practice or Policy: The findings underscore the potential of early home-based interventions to foster B-SR by enriching cognitive stimulation in the home environment. Sustainable impact, however, requires structural support for family resources, suggesting that early education policies should combine targeted home-visiting programs with broader measures reducing socioeconomic disparities.

ABSTRACT Student vocabulary size in preschool predicts later literacy outcomes. With many words to master, effective preschool teaching must not only focus on specific words but also on word-learning strategies, with metalinguistic awareness being one strategy. Research supports metalinguistic instruction in upper elementary grades, but few studies explore preschool metalinguistic teacher talk. Research Findings: This study analyzed nine teachers’ use of metalinguistic talk during storybook reading with their 67 preschoolers across 108 observations. Through a sequential explanatory mixed-method approach, we used quantitative methods to capture the frequency of metalinguistic talk types and multilevel models to explore associations between metalinguistic talk and standardized vocabulary scores. We then employed qualitative methods to understand how these talk moves enact affective messages about language awareness that signal dispositions toward word learning. Results revealed a typology of preschool metalinguistic talk, a positive association between metalinguistic talk and vocabulary, and teacher enactments that position words as powerful tools for expression or as markers of ability. Practice or Policy: These findings highlight metalinguistic talk as a promising approach for supporting preschool vocabulary development. They also reveal how teachers enact this talk in ways that may shape children’s sustained attention to and interest in words broadly.

ABSTRACT This multilevel meta-analysis examined to what extent specific intervention components produce Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) intervention effects in samples of nonclinical preschool children. We coded the strategies implemented in preschool SEL interventions into discrete components targeting specific skills. We extracted data from 87 studies (N = 20,293 preschool children aged 3–5 years) that evaluated 70 interventions and reported 617 effect sizes. Research Findings: Our findings showed that after an early SEL intervention, large improvements were reported in children’s interpersonal (d = 0.63) and emotional skills (d = 0.64), and small improvements were reported in children’s internalizing problem behavior (d = 0.15). No single intervention component was associated with stronger SEL intervention effects, indicating that none of these components (psychoeducation, interpersonal, and cognitive exercises) outperformed the others in contributing to the overall intervention effects. The results did show, however, that including the subcomponent emotion recognition exercises in SEL interventions was typically related to weaker intervention effects on proximal outcomes. Practice or Policy: This suggests that preschool SEL interventions should not use emotion recognition exercises that require children to use advanced socio-emotional capacities or engage in advanced Theory of Mind reasoning.

ABSTRACT The goodness-of-fit model suggests that interplay between a child’s behavioral tendencies and their environment, such as early childhood education and care (ECEC) context, is a key factor in promoting child’s well-being in early childhood. Using survey data from Finnish parents with a 1-year-old child, we investigate: differences in seven behavioral tendencies (e.g., Activity level, Irritability) among children in different forms of childcare; variations in children’s enjoyment in ECEC by form of ECEC and behavioral tendencies; and whether the form of ECEC moderates the relationship between behavioral tendencies and enjoyment in ECEC. Research Findings: Children’s behavioral tendencies varied across childcare forms, including parental care, informal home-based care, and formal ECEC arrangements. Children’s enjoyment in ECEC was related to both their behavioral tendencies and ECEC form. Enjoyment was higher in formal family daycare than in ECEC centers. Children who were more social and showed lower levels of inhibition and insecurity tended to enjoy ECEC more. The ECEC form did not moderate the relationship between behavioral tendencies and enjoyment. Practice or Policy: Findings underline the need for ECEC service coordinators and practitioners to consider children’s behavioral tendencies when planning their care experience and means to support their well-being in different care contexts.

ABSTRACT Studies show that young children’s readiness at kindergarten entry is significantly associated with their academic achievement and lifelong well-being. Kindergarten entry assessments (KEA) and the presentation of their data are important to understanding and supporting children’s educational journeys. However, there has been limited exploration of states’ implementation of KEAs and data reports. The current study conducted a national scan of KEA implementation, KEA training for teachers, and data presentation. In 2023–2024, we collected data from state home pages in 50 United States and Washington, D.C. Data included KEA administration (e.g. assessment type and timeline), KEA training (e.g. training required to ensure reliability), and KEA data reports (e.g. data analyzed by child demographics). Research Findings: There were 35 active KEAs (68.6%). While most states relied on teachers’ informal assessment (80.0%), only about 30.0% of the states required teacher training. Although many states reported the overall KEA scores, fewer states reported non-academic KEA domains and the KEA data by districts/schools or by child demographics. Practice or Policy: We discuss implications and offer suggestions for states to provide more training and support for kindergarten teachers, the need for more focus on non-academic KEA domains and contextualized reporting of KEA data.

ABSTRACT This cross-sectional, survey-based study investigated the interrelations of playful parenting style with playfulness and well-being of kindergarten children. Participants were parents (87.3% mothers, 11.8% fathers) and teachers (N = 34) of 228 kindergarten children in Hong Kong (mean age = 5.01 years, 59.2% boys). Parents reported demographic information (i.e. child age, child gender, parent education, and household income), their playful parenting style, and their child’s playfulness, whereas teachers rated children’s emotional well-being (positive and negative) and character strengths (interpersonal, intellectual, temperance, and transcendence strengths) in the school context through questionnaires. Research Findings: Results from a path analytic model revealed that the indirect relations of playful parenting style with children’s positive emotional well-being and interpersonal, intellectual, temperance, and transcendence strengths, mediated through child playfulness, were positive and significant. However, the relation with negative emotional well-being was nonsignificant. Practice or Policy: The results highlighted a playful parenting style and child playfulness as plausible protective factors associated with children’s well-being in the school context. Practically, promoting a playful parenting style at home may be a good way to support holistic early childhood development, fostering emotional resilience, character strengths, and overall well-being.

ABSTRACT Research Findings: This study evaluated the Early Advancement in Social-Emotional Health and Positivity (EASP) program for promoting preschool teachers’ well-being. Participants were 134 Hong Kong in-service preschool teachers in a two-stage randomized controlled trial. At baseline, teachers were randomized to an intervention-combined group (n = 64) or waitlist control (n = 70); after Time 2, intervention participants were re-randomized to full intervention (four online workshops plus smartphone app; n = 32) or workshop only (n = 32). Teachers completed validated measures of positive affect, collegial relationships, personal accomplishment, hope, purpose, work engagement, and resilience at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and eight weeks later. Repeated-measures MANCOVA showed a significant time × group interaction, Wilks’ Lambda F(28, 226) = 1.69, p = .02, η 2 = .17. Relative to participants in the waitlist condition, those assigned in the full intervention condition improved positive affect at Time 2 and personal accomplishment at Time 3; workshop-only improved positive affect and hope at Time 2. Practice or Policy: Findings support online positive psychology workshops as a feasible approach for supporting preschool teacher well-being. The app may provide adjunctive support for maintaining gains, but larger trials are needed.

ABSTRACT Based on the cumulative risk framework, this study examines the relative contributions and mediating roles of different components of executive function in the relation between family cumulative risk and academic achievement in preschoolers. A total of 225 children (122 boys) underwent assessments of executive function and academic performance, while their mothers supplied information regarding family cumulative risk via a questionnaire. The results indicated that: (1) family cumulative risk negatively predicts preschoolers’ reading and math abilities; (2) global executive function and working memory mediated the association between family cumulative risk and early reading and math abilities; and (3) cognitive flexibility did not demonstrate a significant mediating role between family cumulative risk and early reading and math abilities. The findings highlight the pathways through which cumulative family risk relates to academic achievement and underscore the significance of interventions aimed at enhancing global executive function – particularly working memory – for children subjected to elevated environmental risks, to bolster their school readiness. Research Findings: These findings reveal distinct pathways through which family cumulative risk relates to academic achievement, with working memory emerging as a particularly vulnerable and consequential component of executive function in the context of environmental adversity. Practice or Policy: These findings imply that interventions aimed at enhancing executive function—particularly working memory—should be given more support and assistance for children subjected to elevated environmental risks, to bolster their school readiness and child development.

ABSTRACT Research Findings: Young children are curious about the world around them, including making sense of how and why the world works (e.g. science). K-12 science education has shifted its approach toward athree-dimensional, reform-based approach to K-12 science, which points to opportunities for preschool science teaching. In response to the need for examining science teaching in preschools, we used the Science Teacher Observation Protocol for Preschool (SciTOP-P) to describe teachers’ modeling and facilitation of science engagement. The results from 70 Head Start classrooms indicate that teachers used (i.e. pre-intervention) more language around management than science. When teachers engaged students in science practices, they primarily engaged in observing and investigating phenomena, sometimes following up by explaining the phenomena. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest opportunities for curriculum support and professional development to leverage the practices teachers are already implementing (i.e. observing and investigating) and toward building additional science and engineering practices.

ABSTRACT Early childhood education and care quality is typically assessed at the classroom or program level, yet developmental theory emphasizes that individual children’s experiences are key drivers of development. This study presents an exploratory validation of the Quality Exposure Index (QEI), an individual-level observation tool designed to capture what each child experiences in early childhood classrooms. Using video-based observations of 175 children in 26 Pre-K classrooms, we examined the psychometric properties and conditions required for reliable measurement, addressing three validity challenges: scoring, generalization, and extrapolation. Research Findings: Rescaling informed by descriptive statistics and item response theory refined item functioning to improve discrimination and interpretability. Theoretically conceptualized subscales were tested with confirmatory factor analysis to assess alignment with child-level proximal processes. Generalizability and decision studies decomposed variance components and identified designs for reliably differentiating children’s experiences. Results provide initial evidence that individual-level quality measurement is psychometrically feasible, though feasibility is subscale-specific and design-dependent. Practice or Policy: The QEI offers a foundation for more precise and equitable assessment of what each child experiences, complementing classroom-level measures that can mask within-classroom variation. Several subscales reach acceptable reliability under current conditions, whereas others require expanded item coverage, additional raters, or purposeful selection of observation contexts.