Ximena Dominguez

• PhD
• Researcher at SRI International

Digital Promise and Education Development Center (EDC), in partnership with public preschool teachers, families from historically excluded communities, and curricula and media designers at WGBH Educational Foundation (GBH), co-designed a program that could be feasibly implemented across school and home to meaningfully promote science with young chi...

This report shares the design, implementation, and findings from a project that our team conducted with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Our team co-designed and studied a preschool science program that: (1) promotes early science learning across home and school through playful activities that resonate with young children and lev...

Engaging young children in science and engineering learning experiences leverages their curiosity and interest in the natural and physical world. Recent initiatives at the national, state, and local levels have begun to elevate science and engineering as key domains of early learning. This chapter provides an overview of why science and engineering...

A key priority of our research team is to support early childhood teachers in using our National Science Foundation-funded research. With this in mind, our team published this article on the website of the National Association for the Education for Young Children. In the article, we describe how to effectively use digital tools to foster young chil...

This study investigates whether and how the integration of technology and media improves early mathematics outcomes for low-income preschoolers. The study sample was 966 children and 137 teachers in 86 preschool classrooms in California and New York. Preschool classrooms were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a 10-week PBS KIDS Transmed...

This poster spotlighted our Next Generation Preschool Science project. The goal of the project was to design and evaluate a research-based science curricular supplement that can be feasibly adopted in preschool classrooms and be powerful enough to yield improvements in science learning. It integrates science investigations and innovative technology...

This paper discusses SRI Education's and Education Development Center's development of an early mathematics assessment designed to evaluate the impact of a home intervention that seeks to promote young children’s mathematics learning. The study described was part of our summative evaluation of the CPB-PBS Ready To Learn Initiative (RTL), which is s...

This paper describes findings from a blocked randomized design (BRD) field study conducted to examine the Next Generation Preschool Math (NGPM) program's implementation in preschool classrooms and promise in improving young children's mathematic learning. NGPM integrates traditional preschool activities with developmentally appropriate technology t...

This presentation was delivered at the National Science Foundation (NSF)-hosted convening, "STEM Smart: Lessons Learned from Successful Schools," held in Washington, DC. It shares the work of our team's NSF-funded Next Generation Preschool Math project. It also highlights best practices for technology in preschool and design principles for developi...

Employing a developmental and ecological model, the study identified initial levels and rates of change in academic skills for subgroups of preschool children exhibiting problem behavior within routine classroom situations. Six distinct latent profile types of emotional and behavioral adjustment were identified for a cohort of low-income children e...

This study investigates whether a curriculum supplement organized as a sequence of teacher-led literacy activities using digital content from public educational television programs can improve early literacy outcomes of low-income preschoolers. The study sample was 436 children in 80 preschool classrooms in California and New York. Preschool teache...

Guided by an ecological theoretical model, the authors used a series of multilevel models to examine associations among children's individual problem behavior, the classroom behavioral context, and school readiness outcomes for a cohort of low-income children (N = 3,861) enrolled in 229 urban Head Start classrooms. Associations were examined betwee...

Research suggests that promoting adaptive approaches to learning early in childhood may help close the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children. Recent research has identified specific child-level and classroom-level variables that are significantly associated with preschoolers' approaches to learning. However, further research is needed t...

Relations between early problem behavior in preschool classrooms and a comprehensive set of school readiness outcomes were examined for a stratified random sample (N ϭ 256) of 4-year-old children enrolled in a large, urban school district Head Start program. A series of multilevel models examined the unique contribution of early problem behavior in...

The relations between early emotional and behavioral problems in classroom situations and peer social competence were examined for a representative sample of urban Head Start children. Behavior problems were assessed within the context of routine peer, teacher, and structured learning classroom situations early in the preschool year. Two path model...

The studies presented in this article longitudinally examined preschool children's learning behavior, which has received increased attention in recent years because of its positive influence on school readiness. The first study used a statewide database (N = 23,434) to examine whether and how learning behavior changed over time. The second study (N...

Research Findings: This article focuses on preschool science, an important but underresearched school readiness domain. There is considerable activity surrounding quality science in early childhood classroom practices, including state standards, curricula with science activities, and an extensive literature on potential best practices. However, the...

In partnership with a local Head Start program in the southeastern United States, this study sought to: (a) examine the influence of problem behaviors on preschool language and literacy and mathematics achievement and (b) identify mechanisms that explain why children with behavior problems have difficulty learning in the preschool classroom. Childr...

This study examined the relationships between behavior problems, learning behaviors, and educational outcomes for at-risk preschool children. A sample of Head Start children (N = 196) was selected in the southeast United States. Behavior problems were assessed using the Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (LeBuffe & Naglieri, 1999) and learning beh...

Problem behaviors early in the preschool year have been negatively linked to a variety of school readiness outcomes, including language, literacy and mathematics, both at the end of preschool and later on as children transition to elementary school. In order to inform preschool intervention efforts, the current study extends this research by examin...

This study examined the relationship between behavior problems, learning behaviors and educational outcomes for at-risk preschool children. A sample of Head Start children (N = 196) were selected in the Southeast. Behavior problems were assessed using The Devereux Early Childhood Assessment (DECA; Le Buffe & Naglieri, 1999) and learning behaviors w...