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Preschool and Children's Outcomes in Elementary School: Have Patterns Changed Nationwide Between 1998 and 2010?
Author(s) -
Bassok Daphna,
Gibbs Chloe R.,
Latham Scott
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13067
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , early childhood , longitudinal study , child development , academic achievement , medicine , pathology
This study employs data from both kindergarten cohorts of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study ( n ~ 12,450 in 1998; n ~ 11,000 in 2010) to assess whether associations between preschool participation and children's academic and behavioral outcomes—both at school entry ( M age = 5.6 years in both cohorts) and through third grade—have changed over time. Findings are strikingly similar across these two, nationally representative, U.S. cohorts: preschool is positively associated with academic outcomes and negatively associated with behavioral outcomes both at school entry and as children progress through school. Heterogeneity is documented with respect to child and preschool characteristics. However, there is no evidence that associations between preschool and medium‐term child outcomes differ by elementary school characteristics.