Initial kindergarten placement was driven by district-level policy rather than children's developmental level, with no correspondence between preschool outcome quartile and placement¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2020: local conditions change quickly

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Placement decisions were child-independent, conditioned on district opinions about individuals with ASD and historical information. → Strain 2017 q2 i? Children in the top preschool outcome quartile were least represented in inclusive settings, showing no correspondence between preschool growth and kindergarten placement. → Strain 2017 (2)

Evidence¶

Strain 2017¶

Phillip S. Strain. (2017). Four-Year Follow-Up of Children in the LEAP Randomized Trial: Some Planned and Accidental Findings. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 37(2), 121–126. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271121417711531

q2 · i? · associational · r2

The follow-up analysis of placement decisions in both study arms found a "disturbing pattern of “child-independent” decisions": some districts placed children in autism classes because of a past label, others placed progress-makers inclusively, and parent advocacy occasionally altered policy.

"where children were placed was driven by a district-level decision conditioned on opinions about “other” individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or historical information."

Strain 2017 (2)¶

Phillip S. Strain. (2017). Four-Year Follow-Up of Children in the LEAP Randomized Trial: Some Planned and Accidental Findings. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 37(2), 121–126. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271121417711531

q2 · i? · causal · r2

Table 1 cross-tabulates all study participants by preschool outcome quartile against inclusive versus autism class placement; contrary to expectation, the top quartile was least represented in inclusive settings (18% vs 21%), and the author concludes there is "no correspondence" between preschool growth and placement.

"Overall, the distribution of children in Table 1 demonstrates no correspondence between relative growth on study outcome measures in preschool and kindergarten placements."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Among CARS-matched pairs, children placed in inclusive kindergartens significantly outperformed peers in segregated settings on achievement, language, cognition, adaptive behavior, autism symptoms, and prosocial skills four years later — related
• Preschool First Step reduced teacher-reported ASD symptoms and problem behaviors in children at risk for ASD, with Hedges' g from -0.65 to -1.12 — related