Future research agenda on preschool quality: access, younger ages, home-based settings, and practice-level studies¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The authors recommend a research agenda to follow up on their findings: future research should explore the extent to which all children have access to high-quality programs based on where they live, family income, and hours of care needed; similar studies could examine programs serving younger children (birth through age 3) and home-based settings; and researchers should conduct more detailed studies about how classroom or program practices relate to children's learning and development, including how this varies across program types and groups of children.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Linking income eligibility and home zip code data to the current data set for socioeconomic analyses

Constraints¶

• The study sample was not representative of all California children, being disproportionately non-White multilingual learners from families with low incomes in center-based public programs

Target Learners¶

• preschool children
• children birth through age 3 in early learning programs

Target Learning Goals¶

• understanding how program quality relates to equitable learning and development

Related Strategies¶

• Lead an annual district research agenda and coordinate outside researchers to maximize usefulness of research
• Research and policy attention should now examine PreK program quality and equitable access across racial, ethnic, and linguistic groups, and how families choose among PreK options
• Future improvements: real-world user studies, advanced student modeling, and spaced repetition

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Sussman, J., Melnick, H., Newton, E., Kriener-Althen, K., Draney, K., Mangione, P., & Gochyyev, P. (2022). Preschool quality and child development: How are learning gains related to program ratings? Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/422.974