Early Care and Prekindergarten Care as Influences on School Readiness

Abstract

Child care is increasingly viewed as an opportunity to enhance children’s development and school readiness, with prekindergarten programs and early intervention programs targeting children at different moments of development. Results of existing research are mixed, and although many children experience different child care arrangements at different ages, little is known about the joint influence of early and later child care experiences. Using Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort data, the authors estimate a series of regression models, examining the unique and additive contributions of initial child care experiences and prekindergarten experiences on children’s school readiness. The authors find that early use of nonparental care is associated with negative sociobehavioral outcomes; prekindergarten center-based and Head Start care add to this negative association. Early participation in center-based care is associated with enhanced reading and math scores; those relationships are fully mediated by prekindergarten center-based care participation. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed.

Immigrant families’ use of early childcare: Predictors of care type

“…Immigrant parents' concerns regarding care quality predicted increases in the likelihood of their children attending center care in infancy and toddlerhood (Early & Burchinal, 2001;Kim & Fram, 2009). These results, consistent with evidence that center-based ECE is, on average, of higher quality than home-based care (Dowsett, Huston, Imes, & Gennetian, 2008), may indicate that positive connotations between center-based care and high quality care exist for many immigrant parents as they do for native parents. Notably, most studies showing center ECE to be of higher quality examine settings that serve preschool aged children.…”

“…Notably, most studies showing center ECE to be of higher quality examine settings that serve preschool aged children. Research is less consistent regarding which types of care are best for infants and toddlers, with some evidence showing that in infancy and toddlerhood, children receive higher quality care from relatives than in non-relative home and center care settings (Clarke-Stewart, 1999;Dowsett et al, 2008;NICHD ECCRN, 2004).…”

Early Vocabulary in Relation to Gender, Bilingualism, Type, and Duration of Childcare

“…In the last decades research has concentrated on compensatory efforts, demonstrating substantial developmental gains, specifically for disadvantaged children in high-quality daycare arrangements (e.g., Magnuson, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, 2007 ; for reviews see Burger, 2010 ; Jalongo & Sobolak, 2011) or for high-quality child-caregiver interactions (Vernon-Feagans, Bratsch-Hines, & The Family Life Project Investigators, 2013), while emphasizing the cumulative negative effects of social disadvantages (Ebert et al, 2013). We thus know that the increase in school success reported for high-quality care environments is mediated at least in part by the high-quality language input provided specifically for children at risk due to social disadvantages (Burger, 2010 ; Fram, Kim, & Sinha, 2012 ; Magnuson et al, 2009 ; Murray, Fees, Crowe, Murphy, & Henriksen, 2006 ; Pinto et al, 2013). Less well-investigated is the question whether differences in early care arrangements can be associated with differences in vocabulary acquisition in the absence of educational family disadvantages.…”

Attendance in Educational Preschool Services: A Protective Factor in the Development of Children from Low-Income Families?

“…En fait, plutôt que de considérer l'âge d'entrée en contexte éducatif comme nous l'avons fait, ils présentent des résultats par tranches d'âge selon le type de service fréquenté et l'intensité de fréquentation hebdomadaire. Plusieurs études ayant examiné l'effet de cette composante sur le développement présentent des résultats par domaine de développement, avec des mesures autres que l'IMDPE 13,14,16 . Le constat qui s'en dégage, tel que rapporté en introduction, est qu'il est bénéfique de fréquenter un service éducatif dans la première année de vie pour certaines composantes du développement, tandis que cela peut-être défavorable pour d'autres composantes.…”

“…Néanmoins, les recherches tendent à démontrer que la fréquentation d'un milieu de garde initiée dans la première année de vie et se poursuivant jusqu'à l'entrée à l'école, à une intensité supérieure à 30 13,14 ou 45 heures 15 par semaine selon les études, apparaît associée à des conséquences négatives surtout pour le développement affectif, social et émotionnel. En revanche, la fréquentation d'un milieu de garde initiée après la première année de vie et se poursuivant à une intensité modérée jusqu'à l'entrée à l'école apparaît bénéfique en particulier pour le développement langagier et cognitif 13,16 .…”