Activity settings in full-day kindergarten classrooms and children’s early learning

Abstract

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011 (n=10,620), we examined the diversity in full-day kindergarten activity settings across the nation. Recognizing that patterns of activity use may be more important than any single activity, we used person-centered modeling to identify five activity profiles: high whole group, high small group, high individual, distributed activities, and high child selected. Children enrolled in the high whole group classrooms demonstrated the greatest gains in literacy skills during kindergarten, whereas for mathematics, children in both the high small group and high whole group classrooms demonstrated greater gains. Classrooms that had more opportunities for child-selected activities, however, promoted greater improvements in children’s cognitive flexibility. These findings point to the potential of person-centered methods in identifying different groups of classrooms that share common practices.