Variation in the long-term benefits of child care: The role of classroom quality in elementary school.

Abstract

Data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,307) were used to estimate the additive and multiplicative benefits of high-quality child care between birth to 54 months of age and high-quality elementary school education between first and fifth grade. Results indicated that the math and language and literacy benefits of high-quality child care accrued from the end of preschool through age 15 only when coupled with higher quality classroom environments during the elementary school years. In contrast, the benefits of high-quality child care were no longer present when children later attended lower quality classrooms in elementary school. Taken together, these results point to the importance of continued investments in children's education throughout the first decade of life. (PsycINFO Database Record

Starting Early: The Benefits of Attending Early Childhood Education Programs at Age 3

“…It seems somewhat promising that a quarter of the convergence documented in this study was attributed to classroom-wide factors during the pre-K year, suggesting that convergence is—at least partially—addressable at the classroom level. These findings are, thus, both similar to research suggesting that children’s subsequent classroom and school experiences matter for the maintenance of the early ECE boost (Ansari & Pianta, 2018; Currie & Thomas, 2000; Johnson & Jackson, 2017; Swain, Springer, & Hofer, 2015; Zhai, Raver, & Jones, 2012) and different from existing work suggesting that classroom processes account for little to no amount of convergence (Bassok et al, 2018; Claessens et al, 2014; Jenkins et al, 2018).…”

Exploring the Impacts of an Early Childhood Educational Intervention on Later School Selection

“…The “sustaining environments hypothesis” (Bailey et al, 2017) argues that ECE intervention effects may only persist when subsequent environments are of sufficient quality to build on gains made during the early program. Indeed, a number of recent studies have examined this hypothesis to mixed results (Ansari & Pianta, 2018; Bassok et al, 2018; Claessens et al, 2014; Jenkins et al, 2018; Johnson & Jackson, 2019; Zhai et al, 2012).…”

Examining the Effects of Changes in Classroom Quality on Within‐Child Changes in Achievement and Behavioral Outcomes

“…Educational research has often touted the importance of high‐quality classroom environments for promoting children’s achievement and behavioral outcomes (e.g., Ansari & Pianta, 2018; Pianta, Belsky, Vandergrift, Houts, & Morrison, 2008), especially for those growing up in disadvantaged communities (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). Indeed, developmental theory posits that classroom quality plays an important role in helping children reach their potential (e.g., Pianta & Hamre, 2009).…”

“…Finally, classroom quality may have stronger effects on child development at different ages. However, although multiple studies have tracked children’s developmental outcomes and classroom quality longitudinally (e.g., Ansari & Pianta, 2018; Curby, Rimm‐Kaufman, & Cameron Ponitz, 2009; Vernon‐Feagans et al, 2019), little research has examined whether quality effects vary by age. Theoretical frameworks derived from psychology and economics converge on the idea that children derive greater benefit from developmentally promotive inputs experienced earlier in childhood compared to later in childhood (see Heckman, 2006; Ramey & Ramey, 1998).…”