Social Development in Early Childhood

and Future Academic Success

Teachers have long reported a positive correlation between a child's social/emotional development and academic success. The purpose of this paper is to review four articles that report on research examining this relationship.

Han, H.S., and Thomas, M.S. (2010). No child misunderstood: Enhancing early childhood teachers' multicultural responsiveness to the social competence of diverse children. Early Childhood Education Journal 37(6), pp. 469-476.

The majority of early childhood teachers are middle-class and of European descent. The demographics of early childhood classrooms, on the other hand, are reflective of changes in American society, and thus there are more children from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. Research supports the importance of cultural considerations in understanding and promoting social competence in a classroom of young, culturally diverse students. As in the previous study, Han and Thomas characterize social competence as an important marker of development and...
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