Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) improves the school readiness of all children, but less is known about whether associations between enrollment in Pre-K and different indicators of social-emotional and ...executive functioning (EF) skills are sustained as children move into and across elementary school. The current study examines associations between enrollment in the Boston Public Schools (BPS) Pre-K program and children's (N = 508) social-emotional, approaches to learning, and EF skills at both the start and end of kindergarten. Results from multilevel regression models revealed that children who enrolled in BPS Pre-K started kindergarten with lower internalizing behaviors and higher levels of task orientation than their peers. These associations, however, were not sustained through the end of kindergarten. Instead, there were emerging associations between BPS Pre-K and two dimensions of EF-working memory and inhibitory control-at the end of the kindergarten year. The results were robust to different model specifications, including inverse probability of treatment weighting. Taken together, the results highlight the importance of examining links between high-quality Pre-K and different indicators of children's social-emotional and EF skills across time in order to provide a more complete picture of how Pre-K supports different types of skills across time.
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
While many studies of Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) programs focus on academic outcomes, this study investigates nuances in Pre-K attenders' social-emotional and executive functioning (EF) skills at the beginning and end of kindergarten. We found that children who attended the high-quality Boston Public Schools Pre-K program entered kindergarten with lower internalizing behavior and higher academic engagement compared to their peers who attended other programs prior to kindergarten or no program at all. Interestingly, these associations were attenuated by the end of the kindergarten year, and a new gap in attenders' and nonattenders' EF skills emerged that was not present at the beginning of kindergarten. This highlights the importance of further study of Pre-K program impacts on children's nonacademic skills. It is possible that while kindergarten may "catch up" children in their social-emotional skill development, Pre-K may be particularly important for nurturing young children's EF skills.
Kindergartens play an obvious role in the socialization and development of children. In Iran, most of these educational centers are designed based on the Western model of separation of mother and ...child, and they are not compatible with the authentic Iranian, Islamic culture. Hasanat Kindergarten was started to realize the mother-child companionship and interaction in Islamic education. This study aims at providing the ideal model through the examination of various aspects of the activities of Hasanat Kindergarten. It was conducted through a qualitative approach and a thematic analysis method, and it, in terms of purpose, is practical. The statistical population consisted of two groups: mothers and Hasanat kindergarten staff. The sample was selected by purposive sampling method. The research tool was a semi-structured interview based on the 5w1h model, and the content validity of the interview questions was evaluated positively from the related professors’ viewpoint. The interviews were conducted until the data saturation was achieved in 11 interviews. The data were analyzed using the Strauss and Corbin’s method through open and axial coding and the Maxqda software. The findings show that, to maintain the original and healthy relationship between mother and child, the activity of this kindergarten is in accordance with the mother-centered Fatemi education. Furthermore, in Hasanat Kindergarten, the quality of education is emphasized and child-centeredness is considered in interior design. The result of the study indicates that the activities of Hasanat Kindergarten, based on creativity, the threefold compilation of participatory content for the child, mother, mother-child; it is realized through games and fondness for books, and mother-centered learning in education and dynamic and effective evaluation.
Das Internationale Zentrum Frühkindliche Bildung, Betreuung und Erziehung (ICEC) hat zwischen 2017 und 2021 die Equal Access-Studie durchgeführt. Diese untersuchte, wie strukturelle Rahmenbedingungen ...Ungleichheiten im Zugang zu frühkindlichen Bildungs-, Betreuungs- und Erziehungsangeboten (FBBE) hervorbringen, verringern oder verstärken (können). Während sich bisher eine Vielzahl empirischer Forschungen insbesondere auf die elterlichen Entscheidungsprozesse konzentrieren, schließt die Studie an bestehende For- schungslücken an und trägt dazu bei, strukturelle und institutionelle Faktoren stärker zu berücksichtigen, um ungleiche Zugangsbedingungen zu verstehen. Die Publikation basiert auf Daten, die im Rahmen der Equal Access-Studie erhoben wurden und sich auf die lokale Umsetzung von Zugang konzentrieren. Mittels qualitativer Experteninterviews wurden in sechs Kommunen in Deutschland, Kanada und Schweden unterschiedliche Entscheidungsträger lokaler Kita-Steuerung befragt.
This study examined the role of self-regulation in emerging academic ability in one hundred and forty-one 3- to 5-year-old children from low-income homes. Measures of effortful control, false belief ...understanding, and the inhibitory control and attention-shifting aspects of executive function in preschool were related to measures of math and literacy ability in kindergarten. Results indicated that the various aspects of child self-regulation accounted for unique variance in the academic outcomes independent of general intelligence and that the inhibitory control aspect of executive function was a prominent correlate of both early math and reading ability. Findings suggest that curricula designed to improve self-regulation skills as well as enhance early academic abilities may be most effective in helping children succeed in school.
The authors examined a new assessment of behavioral regulation and contributions to achievement and teacher-rated classroom functioning in a sample (
N
= 343) of kindergarteners from 2 geographical ...sites in the United States. Behavioral regulation was measured with the Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) task, a structured observation requiring children to perform the opposite of a dominant response to 4 different oral commands. Results revealed considerable variability in HTKS scores. Evidence for construct validity was found in positive correlations with parent ratings of attentional focusing and inhibitory control and teacher ratings of classroom behavioral regulation. Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that higher levels of behavioral regulation in the fall predicted stronger levels of achievement in the spring and better teacher-rated classroom self-regulation (all
p
s < .01) but not interpersonal skills. Evidence for domain specificity emerged, in which gains in behavioral regulation predicted gains in mathematics but not in language and literacy over the kindergarten year (
p
< .01) after site, child gender, and other background variables were controlled. Discussion focuses on the importance of behavioral regulation for successful adjustment to the demands of kindergarten.
Der Band präsentiert Ergebnisse einer qualitativ-rekonstruktiven Studie zu Elterngesprächen in integrativen Kindertageseinrichtungen. In Anlehnung an ein praxeologisches Übergangs- und ...Inklusionsverständnis wird eine Typologie dieser Gespräche vorgelegt. Als wesentliches Ergebnis der Studie lassen sich eine erhöhte Polyvalenz (Vieldeutigkeit) und Vulneranz, die sich aus der Verletzlichkeit der Eltern speist, ausmachen sowie als zentrale Herausforderung einer inklusiven (Früh-)Pädagogik ausweisen. Zudem werden Formen einer inklusionsorientierten Übergangsgestaltung herausgearbeitet.
Spielgruppen sollen in der Deutschschweiz die Integration und den Deutscherwerb zwei- bis vierjähriger Kinder schon vor dem Schuleintritt fördern. Dieses heterogene Feld ist bisher wenig erforscht. ...In diesem Band werden Ergebnisse einer videobasierten Fallstudie in drei Spielgruppen berichtet. Es geht um kommunikative Formen wie Spiel, Kreis, »Znüni« und Geschichtenerzählen. Zudem wird das sprachliche Handeln von Kindern untersucht, die Deutsch als Zweitsprache lernen. Aufgrund dieser Befunde werden Perspektiven für das Spielgruppenfeld, die Professionalisierung frühpädagogischer Fachpersonen und die Forschung skizziert.
Prior nonexperimental studies have been used to conclude that children's reading and mathematics achievement bidirectionally influence each other over time, with strong paths from (a) early reading ...to later mathematics and (b) early mathematics to later reading. In the most influential study on the topic, the early math-to-later-reading path was reported to be stronger than the early reading-to-later-math path (Duncan et al., 2007). Yet prior estimates may be confounded by stable environmental and personal factors influencing both reading and mathematics achievement. We reexamined the bidirectional relations between reading and mathematics achievement using both traditional models and extensions intended to account for unmeasured confounding. Results based on a large nationally representative sample of children from kindergarten to 3rd grade (N = 9,612) indicated that the estimated effects between reading and mathematics achievement differ substantially after accounting for the confounding effects of stable unmeasured factors. In these models, autoregressive and cross-lagged paths were substantially reduced. The finding that early mathematics predicts later reading more strongly than early reading predicts later math disappears and sometimes reverses, suggesting that larger paths from math to reading than from reading to math in previous related analyses are not causally informative. Stability in early mathematics and reading achievement resulted from substantially overlapping time invariant factors that correlate above .90.
PDF
