Motor Skills and Executive Function Contribute to Early Achievement in East Asia and the Pacific

Research Findings: This study examined the contributions of motor skills and executive function (EF) to early achievement. Participants were 7,797 children (3,889 girls) between 36 and 72 months of age from 6 countries in East Asia and the Pacific. Fine and gross motor skills, EF, language and literacy achievement, and mathematics achievement were evaluated using the East Asia-Pacific Early Child Development Scales, a tool that assesses child development in 7 domains. Children’s caregivers provided demographic information. There were 3 salient findings. First, gross and fine motor skills predicted both language and literacy and mathematics achievement. Second, in general, fine motor skills contributed more to the prediction of early achievement than gross motor skills. However, there were no differences between the contributions of fine and gross motor skills to the prediction of early language and literacy in Papua New Guinea or early mathematics in Timor-Leste. Third, EF partially mediated the relation between both early achievement and gross and fine motor skills in the overall sample, Cambodia, and Timor-Leste and fully mediated the association of gross motor skills and early achievement in China, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, and Vanuatu. Practice or Policy: Implications of the findings for early childhood education are discussed.     

A deeper dive,a wider pool: Preschool benefits sustain to first grade on a broader set of outcomes

The current study provides new evidence on the sustained benefits of preschool attendance on a broader range of skills—both academic and executive functioning (EF)—than many prior studies have examined. Using propensity score methods, we predicted children's (N = 920, M age at 1st = 6.5 years) literacy, language, math, and EF skills in kindergarten and again at first-grade (2020–2021) based on whether they had attended public preschool (school-based pre-k; Head Start) versus no preschool. In our race-ethnically diverse sample of children (48% Hispanic/Latinx; 21% Black; 14% White; 9% Native American; 9% multiracial) from low-income families, preschool attenders showed advantages on English literacy, English language, and math in kindergarten, which mostly persisted into first-grade. Preschool did not boost EF in kindergarten or first-grade.     

High-Quality Preschool: The Socioeconomic Composition of Preschool Classrooms and Children's Learning

Research Findings: As policymakers expand access to preschool, the sociodemographic composition of preschool classrooms will become increasingly important. These efforts may create programs that increase the concentration of children from low-income families or, alternatively, foster the creation of socioeconomically diverse preschool classrooms. What effect the creation of such contexts would have on very young children remains unclear. Using multilevel methods and data on 2,966 children in 704 prekindergarten classrooms, this study explores the relationship between socioeconomic classroom composition and children's social and cognitive development. The results indicate positive associations between the mean socioeconomic status (SES) of the class and children's receptive language, expressive language, and mathematics learning, regardless of children's own sociodemographic backgrounds and the characteristics of their classrooms. However, the analyses indicate no association between the development of social competence and class mean SES. Practice or Policy: The links between classroom SES and language and mathematics development were comparable in size to those associated with instructional quality and even children's own SES. Neither structural nor instructional characteristics of prekindergarten classrooms explained these relationships, suggesting the possibility of direct peer effects. The findings indicate that the composition of children's classrooms should be considered an important aspect of preschool quality.     

Latino Maternal Literacy Beliefs and Practices Mediating Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Education Effects in Predicting Child Receptive Vocabulary

Research Findings: This study investigated the association between Mexican American maternal education and socioeconomic status (SES) and child vocabulary as mediated by parental reading beliefs, home literacy environment (HLE), and parent–child shared reading frequency. As part of a larger study, maternal reports of education level, SES, HLE, and reading beliefs along with child expressive and receptive vocabulary were collected for 252 mothers and their preschool children from 2 demographically similar school districts in 1 county. Correlations were moderate and positive, with higher levels of maternal education related to family income, HLE, book availability, and children’s expressive and receptive vocabulary. Consistent with long-standing evidence, maternal education and SES were predictors of children’s vocabulary, albeit indirectly through maternal reading beliefs, HLE, and reading frequency. Practice or Policy: Findings extend current knowledge about specific pathways through which social class variables impact children’s language. Policy implications, directions for future research, and study limitations are noted.     

The associations among preschool children’s growth in early reading,executive function,and invented spelling skills

The purpose of the present study was to examine associations among children’s emergent literacy (early reading), language, executive function (EF), and invented spelling skills across prekindergarten. Participants included 123, primarily African American, 4-year-old children enrolled in a variety of prekindergarten settings. In addition to describing the concurrent and longitudinal relations between children’s emergent literacy, EF, and invented spelling skills, this study investigated associations among children’s growth in these targeted skills and explored potential indirect effects from children’s EF to invented writing skill. Multiple regression analyses suggested that although early reading skills were significantly and concurrently associated with invented spelling skills, children’s phonological awareness was the only early reading skill predictive of later invented spelling skills. Children’s EF was not concurrently or longitudinally associated with invented spelling after controlling for early reading skills. However, regression analyses of children’s residual scores suggested that children’s EF skill at the beginning of the semester was predictive of their later invented spelling skills through children’s letter-sound knowledge.     

Effortful Control and Academic Achievement in Rural China

Research Findings: This study investigated the relationships between effortful control and early literacy and mathematics achievement. A total of 181 children (85 girls and 96 boys) from rural China were assessed when they were in Grades 1 and 2. Path analyses controlling for maternal education indicated that effortful control at the beginning of Grade 1 predicted incremental achievement in literacy and mathematics at the end of Grade 1 and mathematics achievement at the end of Grade 2. Growth in effortful control during Grade 1 also contributed significantly to the prediction of both literacy and mathematics achievement at the end of Grade 2. Although girls performed significantly better than boys in literacy achievement, gender did not moderate the relationships between effortful control and literacy and mathematics achievement. Practice or Policy: Children’s effortful control appears to be an important predictor of early literacy and mathematics achievement. Findings suggest that children’s effortful control should be fostered during the preschool and early years of formal schooling, and this can be done in both home and school contexts.     

Preschool attendance,schooling, and cognitive skills in East Africa

We study the effects of preschool attendance on children’s schooling and cognitive skills in Kenya and Tanzania. We use a within-household estimator and data from nationally representative surveys of school-age children’s literacy and numeracy skills, which include retrospective information on preschool attendance. In both countries, school entry rules are not strictly enforced, and children who attend preschool often start primary school late. At ages 7–9, these children have thus attended fewer school grades than their same-aged peers without pre-primary education. However, they catch up over time: at ages 13–16, children who went to preschool have attended about the same number of school grades and score about 0.10 standard deviations higher on standardized tests in both countries. They are also 3 (5) percentage points more likely to achieve basic literacy and numeracy in Kenya (Tanzania).     

Socioeconomic status,parent report of children’s early language skills,and late literacy skills: a long term follow-up study among Chinese children

Previous research on the longitudinal prediction of literacy development has focused mainly on the relationship between early cognitive/language skills and late literacy skills. The present study aimed to test the reliability of a number of measures reported by parents as compared to measuring cognitive and language skills in predicting subsequent reading achievement. Two hundred sixty-two Chinese children were administered four cognitive and language skills over three years at the preliterate stage. Additional information on children’s family socioeconomic status (SES), children’s early language skills, familial reading performance and habits, and familial handedness based on the observations of parents was collected. Performance on these variables in relation to subsequent literacy skills at 11 years of age was examined. SES and children’s early language skills significantly predicted subsequent literacy skills. Even with a number of cognitive and language skills statistically controlled, parental reports of children’s early language skills still contributed to reading comprehension. Poor readers defined at 11 years of age had lagged behind in early language skills, as well as family reading performance and habits, as compared to typically developing readers. These findings suggest that SES and parental estimates of children’s early language skills are useful for predicting children’s subsequent reading achievement.     

The Home Literacy Environment Is a Correlate,but Perhaps Not a Cause,of Variations in Children’s Language and Literacy Development

The home literacy environment is a well-established predictor of children’s language and literacy development. We investigated whether formal, informal, and indirect measures of the home literacy environment predict children’s reading and language skills once maternal language abilities are taken into account. Data come from a longitudinal study of children at high risk of dyslexia (N = 251) followed from preschool years. Latent factors describing maternal language were significant predictors of storybook exposure but not of direct literacy instruction. Maternal language and phonological skills respectively predicted children’s language and reading/spelling skills. However, after accounting for variations in maternal language, storybook exposure was not a significant predictor of children’s outcomes. In contrast, direct literacy instruction remained a predictor of children’s reading/spelling skills. We argue that the relationship between early informal home literacy activities and children’s language and reading skills is largely accounted for by maternal skills and may reflect genetic influences.     

Paths of effects of early childhood intervention on educational attainment and delinquency: a confirmatory analysis of the Chicago Child-Parent Centers

This study investigated the contributions of 5 mechanisms to the effects of preschool participation in the Child-Parent Centers for 1,404 low-income children in the Chicago Longitudinal Study. Based on a matched-group design, preschool participation was associated with significantly higher rates of educational attainment and lower rates of juvenile arrest. LISREL analysis revealed that the primary mediators of effects for both outcomes were attendance in high-quality elementary schools and lower mobility (school support hypothesis), literacy skills in kindergarten and avoidance of grade retention (cognitive advantage hypothesis), and parent involvement in school and avoidance of child maltreatment (family support hypothesis). The model accounted for 58% and 79% of the preschool links with school completion and juvenile arrest, respectively. The maintenance early intervention effects are influenced by many alterable factors.     

Impact of Process Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care on Academic Outcomes: Longitudinal Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis studies the association of pedagogical processes in early childhood care and education with outcomes in two academic domains: language and literacy as well as mathematics. It synthesizes evidence from 17 longitudinal studies in nine European countries with 16,461 children in regular center-based care spanning the period between ages 3 and 16. Results of a three-level meta-analysis provided small overall effect sizes for both global and domain-specific process quality, and indicated lasting associations with academic development over children’s school career (ES = .11, Cohen’s d = .22, and ES = .10, Cohen’s d = .20). Effects varied by outcome domain, type of process measure, and differences in adopted analyses, with important implications for pedagogical practice and future research.     

Teacher–Child Interactions in Free Choice and Teacher-Directed Activity Settings: Prediction to School Readiness

Research Findings: This article examines whether time spent in free choice and teacher-directed activity settings within preschool was associated with indicators of school readiness and the extent to which children’s learning was associated with the quality of teachers’ behavior within these settings. Participants were 325 preschool teachers and 1,407 children from low-income backgrounds. Teacher–child interactions were measured in multiple cycles across 1 day of classroom observation within teacher-organized free choice and teacher-directed activity settings. The overall proportion of class time spent in free choice was positively related to children’s average gains in inhibitory control, whereas class time spent in teacher-directed activities predicted gains in language development and early literacy skills. And more effective teacher–child interactions within the free choice setting were significantly related to children’s average gains in language development and early literacy skills. Practice or Policy: Findings confirm that both free choice and teacher-directed settings in early education classrooms can be assets for children’s learning; however, the value of time in child-managed activities is partially dependent on teachers’ behavior with children.     

Effectiveness of bilingual education in Cambodia: a longitudinal comparative case study of ethnic minority children in bilingual and monolingual schools

There is little research in the developing countries of South East Asia on the effectiveness of bilingual education programmes that use first language instruction for ethnic minority children. This study investigated the effectiveness of a bilingual education programme involving ethnic minority children in Cambodia by comparing their performance in mathematics, Khmer literacy and oral Khmer to their ethnic minority peers whose education is in the national language only. The findings show that students in the bilingual schools performed better in mathematics than their peers in the monolingual schools, but the differences in Khmer literacy and oral Khmer test scores were statistically insignificant. The study suggests that bilingual education using first language instruction could benefit academic development among ethnic minority students in Cambodia, at least in terms of mathematics achievement.     

The Role of Relational and Instructional Classroom Supports in the Language Development of At-Risk Preschoolers

The present study examined the extent to which preschool classroom supports—relational support (RS) and instructional support (IS)—are associated with children's language development and whether these associations vary as a function of children's language ability. The language skills of 360 children within 95 classrooms were assessed using an expressive narrative task in the fall and spring of the preschool year, teachers rated RS in the fall, and observations of IS were collected across the year. Research Findings: Hierarchical linear models revealed main effects of IS, but not RS, on preschoolers’ development of expressive language skills. In addition, the associations between RS and IS on children's expressive language development were moderated by children's fall language ability. Specifically, the association between IS and language development was stronger for children with stronger expressive language skills, and the association between RS and language development was stronger for children with weaker expressive language skills. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest that professional development for preschool teachers might focus on aligning classroom supports with the needs of children with weaker language skills who are at risk for difficulty acquiring literacy.     

Socioeconomic Status and Preschoolers' Mathematical Knowledge: The Contribution of Home Activities and Parent Beliefs

Research Findings: Children from families of lower socioeconomic status (SES) enter kindergarten with less developed mathematical knowledge compared to children from middle SES families. This discrepancy is present at age 3 years and likely stems from differences in the home learning environment. This study reports SES-related differences both in the quantity and quality of mathematical support children receive in the home and in parent beliefs about early mathematical development and then compares both with children's performance on a comprehensive mathematics assessment. Participants included 90 children in their 1st year of preschool (2 years before kindergarten entry) and 88 children in their prekindergarten year (the year just prior to kindergarten entry). Both cohorts were balanced for SES and gender. The results suggested minimal SES-related variation in mathematical support received in either cohort but clear SES differences in parents’ beliefs about early mathematical development. Middle SES parents of children in both cohorts held higher expectations in terms of skills they expected children to possess by age 5, as well as a more accurate understanding of which skills are within the developmental range of most children by age 5. These differences accounted for unique variance in children's scores on the mathematics assessment. Practice or Policy: Implications are discussed.     

Independent Contributions of Mothers’ and Fathers’ Language and Literacy Practices: Associations With Children’s Kindergarten Skills Across Linguistically Diverse Households

Research Findings: Home language and literacy inputs have been consistently linked with enhanced language and literacy skills among children. Most studies have focused on maternal inputs among monolingual populations. Though the proportion of American children growing up in primarily non-English-speaking homes is growing and the role of fathers in early development is increasingly emphasized, less is known about these associations in primarily non-English-speaking households or how mothers and fathers independently contribute to children’s skills. Using a subsample of data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Birth Cohort (N = 5,450), this study assessed the frequency of maternal and paternal inputs during early childhood and their prospective connections with children’s English language and literacy skills at age 5 across White, Mexican, and Chinese children from linguistically diverse households. Analyses revealed significant differences in inputs by ethnic/language group membership and significant associations between both maternal and paternal inputs and children’s skills. These associations did not differ across ethnic/language group membership. Practice or Policy: These results point to the importance of promoting rich home language and literacy environments across diverse households regardless of the language in which they take place or the parent from which they derive.     

Self-Regulation and Task Engagement as Predictors of Emergent Language and Literacy Skills

Research Findings: A growing emphasis in the literature on children’s self-regulation signals the need for increased understanding of the ways in which young children become active players in the acquisition of knowledge. In particular, self-regulation may be linked to subsequent academic achievement through greater engagement with the learning tasks and activities made available in the preschool classroom. This study tested preschoolers’ (N = 603) observed task engagement in the classroom as mediating the relations between directly assessed self-regulation and changes in their language and literacy outcomes during the preschool year. Findings indicate that self-regulation is directly related to observed task engagement as well as changes in a host of language and literacy skills. Engagement with tasks and activities in the classroom also partially mediates the association between self-regulation and changes in expressive vocabulary. Mediation through task engagement was not found for receptive language or early literacy skills. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that the development and evaluation of clearly articulated preschool curricula designed to promote academic achievement by fostering self-regulation is an important direction for future research.     

Effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children's language,communication, and literacy outcomes

This study examined the joint effects of home environment and center-based child care quality on children's language, communication, and early literacy development, while also considering prior developmental level. Participants were 95 children (46 boys), assessed as toddlers (mean age = 26.33 months; Time 1) and preschoolers (mean age = 68.71 months; Time 2) and their families. At both times, children attended center-based child care classrooms in the metropolitan area of Porto, Portugal. Results from hierarchical linear models indicated that home environment and preschool quality, but not center-based toddler child care quality, were associated with children's language and literacy outcomes at Time 2. Moreover, the quality of preschool classrooms moderated the association between home environment quality and children's language and early literacy skills – but not communication skills – at Time 2, suggesting the positive cumulative effects of home environment and preschool quality. Findings further support the existence of a detrimental effect of low preschool quality on children's language and early literacy outcomes: positive associations among home environment quality and children's developmental outcomes were found to reduce substantially when children attended low-quality preschool classrooms.