Effects of the Early Home Environment and Preschool Programs on Kindergarten Readiness: Evidence from ECLS-B

• In Event: 4167 - Section on Children and Youth Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Children & Youth Roundtable 5: Early Childhood Education

Abstract

In early childhood, wide skill gaps emerge for children from different family backgrounds. By kindergarten entry, children in very low-income families are about one standard deviation behind in reading and math skills than children in very high-income families (Reardon 2016). Entering kindergarten at such a disadvantage has troubling implications for later stage success. This concern is amplified within a context of rising levels of inequality in family incomes (Duncan & Murnane, 2016). The current study uses nationally-representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort to examine the joint effects of the home environment and preschool programs on reading at kindergarten entry. Previous studies tend to focus on the effects of one source of development, yielding an incomplete understanding of child outcomes (Raudenbush & Eschmann, 2015). By considering their joint effects, this study may offer additional insight into mitigating early childhood inequalities. Specifically, the analysis tests whether the effect of the home environment on reading skills is moderated by public preschool programs. Conditional on preschool programs, stronger home environment effects for children from lower-income backgrounds, if confirmed, would undergird the importance of public programs in reducing inequality in early childhood outcomes. Results from OLS models indeed provide evidence of a moderation relationship. Head Start children benefitted from higher levels of emotional support compared to parent-care children. The findings suggest preschool programs may not only have direct impacts on children but also that the effect, in part, may operate through the home learning environment. As such, inequality in early childhood outcomes may be mitigated through further investments in public preschool programs and specifically through program efforts to improve the home environment.

Author

• Stephanie D'Souza, Johns Hopkins University