Gilroy
– Children in California who went to preschool regularly before
the age of 4 entered kindergarten better prepared than those who
did not, whether they were from rich or poor families, according to
a recently released study.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Children in California who went to preschool regularly before the age of 4 entered kindergarten better prepared than those who did not, whether they were from rich or poor families, according to a recently released study.
Conducted by Policy Analysis for California Education and the University of California, the study found that attending preschool not only helps kids make developmental gains, it boosts their pre-reading and math skills.
Researchers studied 2,314 kindergarteners from across the state and all ethnicities and income levels.
Regular attendance – about 17 hours per week – and enrollment before the age of 4 makes the benefits of preschool even more pronounced.
The study’s authors said they were surprised to find that when students start kindergarten, the achievement gaps that will be apparent in eighth grade math are already established.
“Parents and policymakers often blame the schools for the notorious achievement gap that divides children from rich and poor families,” said Dr. Margaret Bridges, the developmental psychologist who directed the study, in the study’s release.
But preschool also appears to greatly help shrink the achievement gap across the board, in fact nearly closing it between students who attend.
Latino children who attend preschool narrow the skills gap between them and their white counterparts by a third of a school year.
But middle-income kids continue to benefit when they go to preschool, as well. Middle-income students enter kindergarten more than half a grade level ahead of their peers in pre-reading skills when they enrolled before the age of 4.
Debra Aboytes, Early Learning Initiative administrator for Gilroy Unified School District, said she was not surprised by the study’s findings.
“It was validating the information we have,” Aboytes said.
She said the study’s focus on closing the achievement gap between groups of students, although kids enrolled in GUSD’s state and federally run preschools are a targeted population.
All are low-income and the majority are English Language Learners, students who will regularly lag behind their English speaking counterparts.
“We’re trying to give a boost to their kindergarten readiness,” she said.
Aboytes recently reported that the state preschool, which served 135 student in six classes last year, tentatively showed students were making gains in reading, math and in English language development.
The study also found that Latino children were much less likely to enter preschool than white children, with 38 percent of Latino 4-year-olds enrolling, compared to 58 percent of whites.
African-American parents enrolled their children at higher rates and for more hours a day than other parents.
