Kids Today: Changes in School Readiness in an Early Childhood Era

• In Event: 63.018 - Promising Scholarship in Education: Dissertation Fellows and Their Research

Abstract

Public investment in early childhood education has expanded dramatically in recent years. Despite this investment, we have little empirical evidence on whether children today know more at school entry than they did two decades ago. Using two large, nationally representative datasets, this paper documents how students entering kindergarten in 2010 compare to those who entered in 1998, in terms of their proficiency in reading and math and their behavioral skills. In addition to documenting overall changes, we explore how school readiness has changed for different subgroups based on race and socioeconomic status. Our results indicate that students are entering kindergarten more proficient at both reading and math skills in the more recent cohort. Improvements over this period are particularly pronounced among black and Hispanic students as well as low-income children.

Author

• Scott Latham, University of Virginia