Exploring the predictors of enrollment and kindergarten entry skills of Spanish-speaking dual language learners in a mixed-delivery system of public preschool

Abstract

Dual language learners (DLLs) – young children learning and developing in multiple languages – make up nearly-one-third of the population of public preschool attendees in the U.S. Yet despite the large number of DLLs attending the nation’s largest public preschool programs – Head Start and state-funded public pre-k – little is known about DLL families’ patterns of selection into each program, nor about the relative benefits of each program for DLLs’ early learning. The present study uses contemporary data from a mixed-delivery system of public preschool in Tulsa, Oklahoma to examine predictors of attending Head Start or Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) pre-k, as well as whether program type is associated with differences in DLLs’ kindergarten entry skills. Among DLLs from economically-disadvantaged families, we find some limited differences between DLLs who selected into TPS public pre-k versus Head Start: TPS public pre-k attenders were more likely to have married mothers, parents who chose a preschool program based on logistical opportunities/constraints rather than programmatic preferences, and greater attention/impulse control skills at the start of preschool than were Head Start attenders. We then examined the association between program type and children’s academic and self-regulation skills at kindergarten entry. Controlling for predictors of differential enrollment and children’s earlier skills, we find no differences in kindergarten skills across students who attended Head Start and TPS public pre-k, suggesting both programs prepare DLLs equally well for school success.