ABSTRACT
As is the case with many children across the United States, one out of five children in the state in which we live and work lives below the poverty line (U.S. Census Bureau, 2004). This poverty puts children at risk of reading problems (Conger, Conger, & Elder, 1997; Duncan, Young, Brooks-Gunn, & Smith, 1998; McLoyd, 1998). Preschoolers living in poverty are more likely to have poorly developed vocabulary and language skills (Graves, Brunetti, & Slater, 1982; Hart & Risley, 1992, 1995; Smith, Brooks-Gunn, & Klebanov, 1997; Washington & Craig, 1999). These depressed language skills for poor preschoolers may not be directly related to poverty per se, but to parent-child interaction styles, home environmental factors, and reading practices associated with poverty (Adams, 1990). The national focus on the provision of prekindergarten services is designed to ameliorate some of the negative effects of poverty on children’s preacademic skills.
