Preschool Programs Can Boost School Readiness

The role of preschool in reducing inequality

“…Some of the effects were quite large at program completion. For example, among children entering kindergarten in 2006, prekindergarten was associated with nearly a one standard deviation gain in letterword identification, a 0.75 standard deviation gain in spelling, and a 0.33 standard deviation gain in applied problems (a mathematics assessment) on the Woodcock Johnson composite test [10]. Some, but not all, of these effects persisted to grade three, the latest point at which children in the study were assessed.…”

Efeitos de longo prazo da educação infantil: evidências e política

“…Nos Estados Unidos, o Early childhood longitudinal study analisou uma amostra nacionalmente representativa de crianças que ingressaram no jardim da infância em 1998, , verificando que a educação pré--escolar melhora as habilidades em Leitura e Matemática desde que as crianças ingressam no kindergarten, aos 5 anos (Magnuson et al, 2004). Outros estudos norte-americanos também encontraram benefícios da educação pré-escolar para as crianças (GORMLEY;GAYER, 2008;VANDELL et al, 2010).…”

Ready or not: Kindergarten classroom engagement as an indicator of child school readiness

“…The remarkable success of carefully designed pre-school interventions programmes supports the existence of a developmentally sensitive period for learning (Diamond, Barnett, Thomas & Munro, 2007;Gormley, Phillips & Gayer, 2008;Heckman, 2006). Although theories of plasticity do not suggest that new learning cannot occur outside of this period, they do suggest that a stronger environmental push may be needed outside of this timeframe to bring about improvement in children's cognitive and social skills.…”