Effects of the Home Learning Environment and Preschool Center Experience upon Literacy and Numeracy Development in Early Primary School

TLDR

The study examines how aspects of the home learning environment and preschool experience influence literacy and numeracy achievement at school entry and at the end of the third year. Researchers identified unexpected performance pathways by forming demographically adjusted groups (overachieving, average, underachieving) and applied multilevel models to hierarchical data to create child‑ and preschool‑level groups for analysis. Multilevel analyses reveal strong effects of the home learning environment and significant effects of specific preschool centers at school entry, with these effects remaining, though attenuated, several years later.

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of aspects of home and preschool environments upon literacy and numeracy achievement at school entry and at the end of the 3rd year of school. Individuals with unexpected performance pathways (by forming demographically adjusted groups: overachieving, average, and underachieving) were identified in order to explore the effects of the home learning environment and preschool variables on child development. Multilevel models applied to hierarchical data allow the groups that differ with regard to expected performance to be created at the child and preschool center levels. These multilevel analyses indicate powerful effects for the home learning environment and important effects of specific preschool centers at school entry. Although reduced, such effects remain several years later .