The purpose of this study was to examine second graders’ (n=680) changing spoken nonmainstream American English (NMAE) use in relation to their oral language and reading comprehension achievement. Fall NMAE production was negatively associated with fall achievement scores. NMAE production generally decreased from fall to spring. Students who qualified for the US Free and Reduced Lunch program (FARL) and who had stronger language skills were more likely to decrease their NMAE use (i.e., dialect shifting) than their peers who did not qualify for FARL or their peers with weaker language skills. Dialect shifting for a sub-sample of 102 students who used substantial amounts of NMAE at the beginning of the school year was predicted by school context, controlling for reading and language skills – in general, students who attended more affluent schools dialect shifted to a greater extent than did their peers who attended higher poverty schools. Greater dialect shifting in this group predicted gains in reading comprehension from fall to spring.

The application of Response to Intervention (RtI) to early childhood settings presents many opportunities and challenges; however, it remains unclear how best to implement this framework in settings in which children at risk of academic difficulty are overrepresented, like Head Start. One of the first steps in implementing any RtI process is the effective and efficient identification of children who are in need of additional instructional support (e.g., Tier 2 or Tier 3). This process is critical as it directly affects the amount of resources needed to support children appropriately-a factor that is particularly concerning for programs that primarily serve children who are at risk of social, emotional, or academic failure difficulties. The purpose of this study was to investigate the proportion of at-risk children who may be in need of additional instructional support when screening and norm-referenced measures are administered at the beginning of the year. In addition, the proportion of at-risk children who continued to need additional support after receiving approximately 6 months of Tier 1 instruction was examined.

Many recent studies about preschool early language and literacy skills utilize multiple assessments to identify young children who require additional multitiered instructional support. Although the use of a single screening instrument may be efficient but overidentify children in need of intervention, the universal administration of multiple diagnostic assessments can allow for greater precision but strain available local resources. This study explored the use of a multiple-gating screening procedure to identify preschool-age children from low-income backgrounds who exhibit early literacy and language weaknesses and may be in need of additional instructional support. A brief early language and literacy screening measure was administered to all children followed by an oral language diagnostic measure administered to a subset of children based on predetermined criteria. Findings suggest that the multiple-gating procedure decreased the rate of false positives and may be an effective screening approach for early childhood settings. Implications for future research are discussed.

This quasi-experimental pilot study examined the use of the Preschool Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum during the summer prior to kindergarten entry for preschool-age children. The purpose of the study was to examine if participation in the summer Preschool PATHS curriculum would lead to increased levels of social–emotional competence for the participating children, particularly as they prepared to transition into formal school settings. Preliminary results of pilot data indicate positive outcomes for preschool-age children participating in the intervention. These preliminary results suggest that the Preschool PATHS curriculum could potentially be delivered immediately prior to school enter with the potential for promoting competencies and strengths to put young children on a path toward a positive trajectory as they start school. Limitations of the study are discussed as well as practical implications and future research needs.

Three-year-old children are seldom the focus in studies about supplemental early literacy instructional support. This study examines 3-year-old children’s potential need for additional early literacy support, extending and replicating a previous investigation that identified prekindergarten children (i.e., 4-year-olds) in Head Start classrooms for additional tiers of early literacy support. The sample included 143 children from Head Start centers in a southeastern, urban region of the United States who had received both fall and spring administrations of an early literacy screener (i.e., Get Ready to Read! —Revised). Standard scores were used to classify children into three tiers, and child tier movement from fall to spring was analyzed. Results support the feasibility of a tiered approach for examining 3-year-old children’s early literacy instructional needs. This might allow researchers and practitioners to provide intervention to children much sooner, thereby increasing the potential for positive long-term reading outcomes.

In undergraduate college courses, assignments designed to showcase preservice teacher learning traditionally include classroom presentations, papers, projects, and tests. Often, these activities do not translate into permanent products that will be utilized outside the course. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of self-created video podcasts on content acquisition among undergraduate preservice special education teachers. Preservice teachers in two undergraduate courses were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) podcast condition (treatment group; n = 25) and (2) traditional live presentation condition (control group; n = 25). The participants in each group were then assigned targeted instructional strategies for teaching mathematics. Pre–post measures included a comprehensive multiple-choice test and an open-ended assessment targeting each assigned strategy. During the last 2 weeks of the semester, participants presented their final product and completed the posttests. Results suggested that the participants in the treatment group (podcasts) acquired a deeper understanding of their assigned strategy than the participants from the comparison group (live presentations). The treatment group also outperformed the control group on the comprehensive multiple-choice test.

Tiered frameworks, such as Response to Intervention (RtI), have become a primary approach within K‐12 settings for identifying children who may need additional intervention. Recent literature suggests RtI is also occurring in many early childhood programs, and early literacy is often an area of focus. While there are data indicating improved outcomes for children who received early literacy intervention, we had many unanswered questions regarding the characteristics of early literacy interventions implemented with young children within RtI frameworks. Using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐analyses guidelines, we conducted a systematic review of the literature to understand who the studies were about, how the researchers identified children in need of higher tiers of support, what content was emphasized through which intervention methods, and where and when the interventions occurred. Our findings indicate that intervention studies overwhelmingly occurred with young children from racially and ethnically minoritized communities and economically marginalized backgrounds. Interventions focused on early literacy skill areas related to later reading achievement and were often delivered by members of research teams. We discuss implications for practitioners striving to implement research‐based interventions in their classrooms. We also discuss implications for researchers seeking to design and implement early literacy intervention studies with practical applicability.

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