Children’s Classroom Engagement and School Readiness Gains in Prekindergarten

TLDR

The study classified 2,751 prekindergarten children into four engagement profiles—free play, individual instruction, group instruction, and scaffolded learning—using latent class analysis. Free play children had smaller gains in language/literacy and mathematics, individual instruction children made greater gains on Woodcock Johnson Applied Problems, and poor children in the individual instruction profile outperformed nonpoor peers while poor children performed worse in the other profiles.

Abstract

Child engagement in prekindergarten classrooms was examined using 2,751 children (mean age = 4.62) enrolled in public prekindergarten programs that were part of the Multi‐State Study of Pre‐Kindergarten and the State‐Wide Early Education Programs Study. Latent class analysis was used to classify children into 4 profiles of classroom engagement: free play, individual instruction, group instruction, and scaffolded learning . Free play children exhibited smaller gains across the prekindergarten year on indicators of language/literacy and mathematics compared to other children. Individual instruction children made greater gains than other children on the Woodcock Johnson Applied Problems. Poor children in the individual instruction profile fared better than nonpoor children in that profile; in all other snapshot profiles, poor children fared worse than nonpoor children.