Two Years vs. One: The Relationship Between Dosage of Programming and Kindergarten Readiness

Abstract

This research study investigated the effects of preschool dosage on kindergarten readiness in an urban school district (n= 1,464). This study was guided by one research question: do children who attend two years of structured early childhood education programming (3-year-old and 4-year-old pre-k) demonstrate stronger academic skills than their peers who only attend one year of pre-k programming (4-year-old pre-k only)? Implementing univariate and multivariate logistic regression models, we found that children who attend two years of programming were 34% more likely to make a successful transition to kindergarten compared to their peers who only attended pre-k as 4-yearolds. Black students who attended two years experienced a greater benefit, with a 53% increased likelihood of being kindergarten-ready.Public funding for early childhood education (ECE) for 3and 4-year-old children in the United States has seen an increased amount of spending and resources provided for the enhancement of programming over the past decade (Friedman-Krauss et al., 2018). Previous research has shown that children attending high-quality early learning programs can improve school readiness in transitioning to kindergarten (Duncan & Magnuson, 2013;Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Recent proposals from the state level have initiated efforts to expand ECE to allow more children to enroll in full-day programming before transitioning to kindergarten (New York State Education Department [NYSED], 2020). These initiatives aim to serve not just more children but also younger children, addressing a need to provide quality ECE programming to children at-risk and those living in poverty (Jenkins et al., 2016). This expansion includes individual state increases in programming for 3-and 4-year-olds provided at the district level. The primary goal of these public preschool expansions is to ensure that more children living in poverty have access to high-quality ECE programming (Bassok et al., 2016).

Unpacking and unpicking the challenge of 600 hours of preschool attendance

“…Further to the national reforms, two States, New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, have proposed to extend the recommended dosage of 600 h for universal ECE programs by increasing hours of attendance up to 30 h per week and hours of operation of preschools beyond 7.5 h per day in areas of greater need and greater disadvantage (NSW Government Department of Education, 2022; Victorian Government, 2023). These new policy directions align with evidence from intervention studies and randomised control trials conducted in Australia (Fordham, 2016; Tseng et al, 2019), Canada (Pascal, 2009), the United Kingdom (Melhuish et al, 2009), and the United States (Atteberry et al, 2019; Infurna & Montes, 2020; Lee et al, 2014) that show positive outcomes of a full-time ECE program for 3- to 5-year-old children growing up in circumstances of disadvantage.…”

“…Our review of literature found only three studies of children's participation in ECE in the year before school that measured dosage in terms of days or hours attended week-by week over the school year (Elek et al, 2021;Krieg et al, 2015;Taylor, 2010). In most studies, the focus has been on broad summary measures such as the number of years attended (Infurna & Montes, 2020;Zaslow et al, 2016) or on the benefits of full-time attendance examined in highly controlled randomised control trials or intervention programs (Atteberry et al, 2019;Pascal, 2009;Tseng et al, 2019). As noted by Molloy et al, (2022, p. 21), systematic collection of enrolment and attendance records in Australian ECE services offers the potential for addressing "questions about enrolment and attendance together with child risk factors … with reliable data at local, state, and national levels" through With the cooperation of ECE centre directors and administrators, we were able to generate a large and detailed attendance dataset (N = 3, 140 records) gathered over four 10-week terms from a relatively small sample of centres/ schools (N = 19).…”

“…The benefits of attending quality early childhood education (ECE) programs have been wellestablished for children from low socioeconomic and ethnically diverse backgrounds (Krieg et al, 2015;Yoshikawa et al, 2013;Zaslow et al, 2016) and also for the general population (D'Souza et al, 2023;Melhuish et al, 2015;Meloy et al, 2019). Studies have also confirmed that educational benefits accrue from attending a 2-year program beginning from age 3 years (Balladares & Kankaraš, 2020;Infurna & Montes, 2020;Sammons et al, 2002) for between 15 to 30 hours (h) per week (Gilley et al, 2015;Laurin et al, 2015;Loeb et al, 2007). Currently, in Australia, national policy aims to "strengthen the delivery of preschool and better prepare children for the first year of school" through Commonwealth funding for "delivery of 15 hours of preschool a week -600 hours a year 1 for all children in the year before they start school", typically at age 4-years (Australian Government Department of Education, 2022).…”

The Role of Preschool Dosage and Quality in Children’s Self-Regulation Development

“…The Impact Study (Puma et al, 2012 ), for example, found that those who attended for two years (beginning at three years of age) showed almost no significant differences compared to the cohort who started HS at four years of age, except for higher scores in parent-reported measures of socioemotional skills and positive approaches to learning, by third grade. Other studies, however, have found evidence of positive associations between an additional year of HS and child academic (e.g., Infurna & Montes, 2020 ; Xue et al, 2016 ; Youn, 2016 ) and socioemotional outcomes in kindergarten (e.g., Moore et al, 2015 ; Wen et al, 2012 ).…”

“…Multiple studies found that students who attend two years of preschool have significantly stronger literacy and numeracy skills than those who attend only one year (e.g., Infurna & Montes, 2020 ; Reynolds et al, 2011 ; Xue et al, 2016 ). Studies examining the difference between attending two versus one year, specifically at Head Start (HS), the US federal preschool program, have shown mixed results.…”