This study proposes to develop a Preschool Curriculum Q-sort to be used in assessing the degree to which engagement in particular classroom activities by teachers promotes language and literacy development in Head Start children. Specific objectives of the study include: (a) developing a Q-sort measure to assess preschool curriculum practices that is practical to use and comprehensive in measuring literacy and language activities; (b) instructing teachers in the use of the Q-sort and having them complete it at specific points during the school year; (c) validating the measure using independent observers; and (d) assessing the degree to which teachers' responses to Q-sort items relate to student growth in school readiness skills, particularly emergent literacy. The first year of the project will consist of two phases. In the fall, a pilot group of Head Start and private preschool teachers will form a focus group to collaborate with the researchers in developing, testing, and revising the curriculum measure. In the winter and spring of the first year, a sample of approximately 40 Head Start teachers and classroom aides from 20 classrooms will complete the Q-sort. Children from these classrooms will be tested on the measures listed below upon their entrance to and exit from Head Start. These classrooms will also be observed using the ECERS-R and the Observational Code for Literacy Interactions. The second year of the study will involve an expansion of the Q-sort to involve approximately 80 Head Start teachers, who will complete the Q-sort three times during the school year. In addition, a subsample of approximately 160 children will be randomly selected from half of these classrooms and assessed using the battery of child measures at two time points during the Head Start year, once at Head Start entry and once at Head Start exit.