Early Childhood Predictors of Early School Success

There is a long-standing lack of integration between the fields of child development and
health and health services research. In this brief, we review scientific evidence from all
these literatures as they relate to early school readiness, focusing on results from large
longitudinal studies. The review does not cover the substantial literature in these areas
based on small sample studies. We intend that the results will provide a foundation for
research that may lead to the development of practical clinical tools allowing health
caregivers to identify young children at risk for early school performance problems, and
target them for additional preventive and ameliorative care leading to improved
outcomes.