Sara Schmitt

The researchers will test the initial efficacy of Early Learning Matters (ELM) for promoting school readiness. In recent years, the need for a research-informed, comprehensive curriculum for early care and education (ECE) settings has become evident. Critically, the existing comprehensive curricula that are most commonly used (e.g., Creative Curriculum, High Scope) either (1) have not been studied rigorously; (2) are expensive, making access a challenge for programs with few resources (e.g.,...

Preschool is a critical time for the development of self-regulation, which is essential for children's long-term social and academic success. Developing and testing programs that help children develop self-regulation in preschool is critical to ensuring long-term success. This project will test the initial efficacy of Red Light, Purple Light (RLPL), a self-regulation intervention that was developed as part of an IES grant. The RLPL intervention is designed to promote children's school readin...

The purpose of this study is to develop, refine, and evaluate a new math language intervention, Reading and Playing with Math (RP-Math). Math language is the specific content language (e.g., words and concepts such as more, fewer, a lot, many) that has distinct meanings when used in math contexts. It is one of the strongest predictors of growth in numeracy skills, and it underlies acquisition of numeracy skills. Yet there are currently no empirically supported tools for providing instruction...

The purpose of this project is to develop and evaluate the promise of a self-regulation intervention designed for use with children from low-income backgrounds with the goal of promoting the development of school readiness skills. Self-regulation has been identified as a key predictor of school readiness and both short- and long-term academic achievement. Many children, especially those experiencing socio-demographic risks, enter school without adequate self-regulation skills and with few op...