School readiness and later achievement.

TLDR

The study uses six longitudinal datasets to examine how school‑entry academic, attention, and socioemotional skills predict later reading and math achievement. Regression models control for pre‑school‑entry cognitive, attention, socioemotional skills and various family background factors to isolate the effects of school‑entry skills. Across all studies, school‑entry math, reading, and attention skills are the strongest predictors of later achievement, with early math having the greatest predictive power, while socioemotional behaviors are generally insignificant, and these patterns hold for boys and girls and across socioeconomic backgrounds.

Abstract

Using 6 longitudinal data sets, the authors estimate links between three key elements of school readiness--school-entry academic, attention, and socioemotional skills--and later school reading and math achievement. In an effort to isolate the effects of these school-entry skills, the authors ensured that most of their regression models control for cognitive, attention, and socioemotional skills measured prior to school entry, as well as a host of family background measures. Across all 6 studies, the strongest predictors of later achievement are school-entry math, reading, and attention skills. A meta-analysis of the results shows that early math skills have the greatest predictive power, followed by reading and then attention skills. By contrast, measures of socioemotional behaviors, including internalizing and externalizing problems and social skills, were generally insignificant predictors of later academic performance, even among children with relatively high levels of problem behavior. Patterns of association were similar for boys and girls and for children from high and low socioeconomic backgrounds.