Do Early Education Policies Moderate Generational Differences in School Readiness and Achievement of Latino Students?

• In Event: Unpacking Longitudinal Outcomes of School Readiness Among Low-Income and Ethnic-Minority Students: Findings From Four Projects

Abstract

School readiness is an indication of how prepared children are to succeed when they enter elementary school, which is kindergarten for over 77 percent of students in the U.S. (Davis & Bauman, 2011). Readiness includes both cognitive and non-cognitive skills that are associated with later learning. Cognitive school readiness includes intellectual skills that serve as foundations for learning and translate into math, language, and reading skills (NSRII, 2005; Salkind, 2008). Non-cognitive school readiness includes skills that make it easier for a child to learn (such as listening and following directions), and social skills that help the student relate to the teacher and other students (Campbell & von Stauffenberg, 2008; Raver, 2002).

Unfortunately, not all children are prepared to learn at school entry. Latino children in particular often exhibit lower cognitive readiness scores than their peers of other races/ethnicities (Fryer & Levitt, 2006; Rouse, Brooks-Gunn, & McLanahan, 2005). A number of reasons have been suggested for this disparity, including limited English proficiency, lower family socioeconomic status, and lower rates of enrollment in early childhood education programs. On some indicators of non-cognitive readiness, such as self-control or externalizing behaviors, Latino students exhibit better scores than their peers (Ramirez & Shapiro, 1998), but on measures of non-cognitive readiness associated with learning behaviors, such as approaches to learning, Latino students do not exhibit the same advantage (Llagas & Snyder, 2003). Further, within the Latino student population, significant variation exists between children born outside the U.S., within the U.S. to foreign-born parents, and native-born Latino students, with some 1st and 2nd generation Latino students exhibiting even lower cognitive readiness than 3rd generation students (Crosnoe, 2007; De Feyter & Winsler, 2009).

In an effort to reduce disparities between children and in response to the growing emphasis placed on school readiness, a significant amount of state and federal financial resources were earmarked for increasing access to and quality of early childhood education over the last decade (Barnett, Carolan, Fitzgerald, & Squires, 2012; Hustedt & Barnett, 2011; Smith, 2014; State of Minnesota, 2015). Though some policies are directed at reaching all students, a number of these state-level policies are intended to provide support to certain at-risk populations, such as children from low income families or those who have limited English proficiency. As some of the primary goals of these policies are to increase opportunities for access to early childhood education and reduce disparities in readiness among children, it is important to understand whether the policies are indeed connected to student readiness and whether all students are benefiting from these policies.

Using the ECLS-K: 2011, I will begin by examining the relationship between cognitive and non-cognitive school readiness and student achievement outcomes at 1st and 2nd grades for foreign-born Latino children, children of Latino immigrants, and native Latino students in the U.S. Then, using state-level early childhood education policy data, I will examine state-level early childhood policy contexts as a moderator of between group differences in initial school readiness and growth in achievement over time.

Author

• Erin Powell Baumgartner, Rice University - Kinder Institute