Effects of Early Education and Care prior to Kindergarten on Child Academic performance and Social Emotional Skills in Primary Grades

Abstract

This study used a nationally-representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of a Kindergarten cohort (ECLS-K: 2011) to examine the relationship between participation in early education and care in the year before children enter kindergarten and the children’s cognitive and social emotional skills from the end of kindergarten to the end of first grade. Early education and care includes home-based care, center-based care and parental care. For the cognitive domain on science scores, results revealed that children in center-based care or in home-based care by a relative or nonrelative, scored higher than children in parental care at the end of kindergarten. They displayed lower levels of behavioral problems. Yet, the pattern did not sustain by the end of first grade. When using the propensity score matching, differences between children in center-based care and their counterparts in home based care or parental care emerged at the end of kindergarten to first grade. In addition, children who attended center-based care displayed behavioral problems at the end of kindergarten, but the patterns were not evident by the end of first grade. Gender differences and disparities in family income were found in the effects of early education and care on children’s cognitive and social emotional measures. Future research and limitations were discussed.