Excerpts from the article:
There is wide variation in children's social, language and cognitive skills when they enter kindergarten. Once in school, the dynamic interaction between classroom experiences and child skills plays an important role in determining children's development and academic achievement.
In an effort to better understand this interaction, a large multi-state American study has collected information about the psychological and social development, scholastic achievement and classroom experiences of the same group of children for over ten years, starting with the children's entry into kindergarten. The study's findings demonstrate unequivocally that the personality characteristics developed by children prior to school entry, such as willingness or reluctance to try new things, and their social and relationship-building skills, self-regulatory skills and ability to communicate are important determinants of the type of relationships they develop with their kindergarten classmates and teachers, the extent of their willingness to engage in classroom activities and the attitude they develop towards school. In turn, children's kindergarten experiences and the attitudes towards school developed in kindergarten shape their progress and success in later grades.
Children's development prior to age five is strongly influenced by the extent to which their parents are nurturing and responsive to their needs and wishes, the availability of language and other developmentally appropriate stimulation in the child's home, and the degree to which the child's community is physically and emotionally safe. For many children, influences that shape their early development also include child care.