Preschool attendees outperform informal-care peers on academic achievement from kindergarten through early adolescence¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2018 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Children who attended preschool at age 4 scored significantly higher on achievement tests than matched informal-care peers from kindergarten through eighth grade, with a kindergarten advantage of 0.20 standard deviation units and later effect sizes of 0.09–0.16 SDs. → Ansari 2018

Evidence¶

Ansari 2018¶

Ansari, A. (2018). The persistence of preschool effects from early childhood through adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 110(7). https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000255

q2 · i? · associational · r3

Propensity-score-matched path models in the ECLS-K 1998 cohort compared preschool attendees with informal-care children on achievement from kindergarten through eighth grade. The kindergarten advantage was "significantly higher" with a printed effect size of E.S. = 0.20 standard deviation units [SD], with later effect sizes of 0.09–0.16 SDs.

"children who attended preschool at age 4 scored significantly higher on kindergarten assessments of academic achievement (E.S. = 0.20 standard deviation units [SD]). Similar, albeit slightly smaller, academic benefits were documented through the end of eighth grade, with effect sizes ranging from 0.09–0.16 SDs."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Academic convergence between preschool and informal-care groups occurs almost entirely in kindergarten and first grade — related
• Negative psychosocial effects of preschool concentrate in full-day programs, with no academic difference between full- and part-day attendance and no program-type differences — related
• Differences in children's social skills account for roughly 10–20% of the convergence in academic test scores — related
• Children who attend pre-kindergarten are advanced on language, reading, writing, and math skills compared to similar children who did not attend — related
• Children who attend pre-kindergarten are more ready for kindergarten at the end of their pre-k year than children who do not attend — related
• Long-term academic benefits of preschool are almost entirely mediated by children's earlier skill development — related