Predicting Child Outcomes at the End of Kindergarten from the Quality of Pre-Kindergarten Teacher-Child Interactions and Instruction

Y

14

School Readiness; Preschool Education; Kindergarten; Preschool Teachers; Language Acquisition; Educational Quality; At Risk Students; Poverty; Program Effectiveness; Educational Environment; Teaching Methods; Teacher Influence; Teacher Competencies; Interaction; Teacher Student Relationship; Interpersonal Competence; Public Schools

California; Georgia; Illinois; Kentucky; New York; Ohio

Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale; Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey; Oral and Written Language Scales; Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement

10.1080/10888690802199418

1088-8691

Publicly funded prekindergartens are programs that most states use to promote school readiness, especially of 4-year-old children at risk for academic problems due to poverty. Despite large public expenditures, these programs have not been widely evaluated. We examined 240 randomly selected pre-kindergarten programs in six states with mature programs that serve large numbers of children, and evaluated specific aspects of classroom quality and children's academic achievement in both the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten year for over 700 children. Results showed that, on average, pre-kindergarten teachers were moderately responsive and sensitive, but were less successful in engaging children in learning specific skills. Both sensitive and stimulating interactions with the teacher and the instructional quality aspects of the pre-kindergarten classroom predicted the acquisition of language, pre-academic, and social skills through the end of the kindergarten year. (Contains 4 tables.)

As Provided

57

2010

EJ887983