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

TLDR

Publicly funded pre‑kindergartens aim to promote school readiness for 4‑year‑olds at risk due to poverty, yet they have not been widely evaluated despite large expenditures. The study sampled 240 pre‑kindergarten programs across six states and assessed classroom quality and child achievement for over 700 children during pre‑kindergarten and kindergarten. Teachers were moderately responsive and sensitive but less effective at engaging skill learning, and both sensitive/stimulating interactions and instructional quality predicted gains in language, pre‑academic, and social skills by kindergarten end.

Abstract

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.