Maintaining the Pre-K Boost

Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Families and Schools Author

02/20/2020 Added

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How do we maintain the pre-K boost? Early Learning Network researchers share what they're learning about the pre-K boost and ways to help young children maintain pre-K learning gains as they transition through the early years of school, specifically focusing on skill building and sustained environments as key factors. They also provide information on what this research means for practitioners, researchers and policymakers. http://earlylearningnetwork.unl.edu/

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[00:00:00.702](gentle music)
[00:00:12.510]In some previous studies,
[00:00:13.870]we have learned that unfortunately,
[00:00:16.230]although some children do benefit significantly
[00:00:18.480]from preschool experiences,
[00:00:20.200]those benefits begin to fade as they get into
[00:00:22.720]kindergarten and beyond.
[00:00:24.090]The Early Learning Network is attempting
[00:00:25.920]to identify practices, polices, and procedures
[00:00:29.233]that are malleable.
[00:00:30.510]In other words, that we can alter or change
[00:00:32.864]in order to help maintain the boost that children gain
[00:00:36.300]during preschool.
[00:00:37.510]Over the course of our studies,
[00:00:40.000]we will be identifying several factors
[00:00:42.060]that do in fact help to maintain
[00:00:44.480]the boost that children gain in preschool.
[00:00:46.360]We are investigating two factors at the current time.
[00:00:50.000]One has to do with sustained environments
[00:00:53.070]and the other has to do with skill building.
[00:00:56.331](gentle music)
[00:01:02.640]Right now, we're really focused on
[00:01:04.485]understanding how do we maintain that Pre-K boost?
[00:01:07.850]There's some evidence that the boost that children
[00:01:11.280]receive from preschool and from Pre-K experiences
[00:01:14.330]doesn't always last throughout their elementary years
[00:01:18.180]and so the network right now is really focused on
[00:01:20.840]understanding how do we identify environments
[00:01:24.190]that will help sustain that boost over time?
[00:01:26.890]What we're trying to find out
[00:01:28.150]in the Early Learning Network
[00:01:30.370]is really kind of two things.
[00:01:32.200]What are they key ingredients of preschool programs
[00:01:34.800]that provide that boost
[00:01:36.010]'cause some provide more boost than others?
[00:01:38.040]And then when children who have been in those Pre-K programs
[00:01:42.025]go to kindergarten, what are the kinds of things
[00:01:45.330]that then happen in kindergarten and in first grade
[00:01:48.150]and in second grade and in third grade
[00:01:50.910]that help children maintain the skills
[00:01:53.840]that they've demonstrated
[00:01:55.140]as a function of that early Pre-K boost?
[00:01:57.440]Learning environments extend well beyond the classroom.
[00:01:59.890]Classroom factors really are important,
[00:02:02.470]how teachers interact with kids,
[00:02:03.900]the kind of curriculum the children are exposed to
[00:02:05.850]is really important.
[00:02:07.640]Those alone don't explain all of kids learning
[00:02:11.370]that a lot of learning goes on
[00:02:13.280]as a consequence of children's experiences in homes
[00:02:16.120]and in their neighborhoods and with their friends.
[00:02:18.840]One thing that teachers and researchers alike
[00:02:22.190]can continue to focus on is making sure that
[00:02:25.243]every child in a classroom has a positive experience
[00:02:29.200]both with their teachers,
[00:02:30.530]but also with their peers.
[00:02:32.380]There are a number of thing that can be done
[00:02:33.850]by practitioners and policy makers
[00:02:36.180]to help sustain the boost
[00:02:37.540]that preschool children experience.
[00:02:39.600]We can create practices and methods
[00:02:42.220]to ensure that there are opportunities
[00:02:43.920]for communication and collaboration
[00:02:45.630]between parents and teachers.
[00:02:47.360]It could be very important for us
[00:02:48.490]to think about policies that will help
[00:02:50.610]parents transition across the Pre-K to kindergarten
[00:02:53.790]and the early years.
[00:02:54.970]Parents are a constant for their children.
[00:02:57.290]They also transition from year to year
[00:02:59.950]as their children grow and develop from Pre-K
[00:03:02.830]into the elementary grades
[00:03:04.420]and they often need help in that transitional process.
[00:03:07.911](gentle music)
[00:03:14.520]As the network in terms of skill building,
[00:03:16.450]what we're learning is that there are really
[00:03:19.180]two sets of skills.
[00:03:20.420]There's the more basic skills
[00:03:21.910]like decoding and chronological awareness and literacy
[00:03:25.500]or number knowledge and counting in math
[00:03:28.090]that are foundational and critical for kids to learn.
[00:03:30.730]It's also really important to teach
[00:03:33.030]more advanced skills like critical thinking,
[00:03:36.352]syntax, reasoning, and applied math
[00:03:40.400]and both of those sets of skills
[00:03:42.510]are foundational for children to achieve academic success.
[00:03:46.140]One interesting thing that we're learning from our data
[00:03:48.503]is that we have found that parents
[00:03:51.470]who actually engage with their children
[00:03:53.890]through activities like reading,
[00:03:56.190]doing puzzles together, playing with blocks,
[00:03:59.540]asking their child to tell them stories
[00:04:01.130]about the world around them.
[00:04:02.360]Those types of activities are more likely
[00:04:04.820]to be associated with games and children's academic skills
[00:04:08.380]than sitting with them and teaching them letters,
[00:04:10.440]sitting with them and teaching them
[00:04:11.830]simple sums and numbers.
[00:04:13.170]And this suggests that at home,
[00:04:15.410]parents can actually be engaged in these types of
[00:04:18.211]play based and very interactive
[00:04:21.340]sets of activities and those things
[00:04:23.520]are more likely to support their academic skills
[00:04:26.130]over and above children's involvement
[00:04:28.000]in a formal Pre-K program.
[00:04:29.420]Children need some more concrete skills
[00:04:32.240]such as learning letter names and letter sounds
[00:04:35.330]and basic numbers.
[00:04:36.690]Layered on top of that, all these other more complex skills
[00:04:40.410]such as language learning, self regulation,
[00:04:43.890]being able to be in a group environment,
[00:04:45.980]being able to interact effectively with your peers
[00:04:48.580]and with other adults in the classroom.
[00:04:50.420]Opportunities to learn between Pre-K and third grade
[00:04:52.930]really vary between grades and between sites
[00:04:55.610]in the Early Learning Network.
[00:04:56.720]A stronger alignment between Pre-K
[00:04:58.950]and early elementary curricula and instruction
[00:05:01.600]may be what helps sustain children's skills
[00:05:04.400]once they enter school.
[00:05:05.710]Something that I think is important for teachers
[00:05:08.910]and parents to know is that when children
[00:05:11.280]arrive at kindergarten, it's really important
[00:05:13.470]to know what skills they've acquired in preschool.
[00:05:16.410]So using assessment early on to find out
[00:05:19.530]at what point in the developmental trajectory children are
[00:05:22.690]and using that information to guide instruction
[00:05:25.050]throughout the kindergarten year
[00:05:26.860]could be an important way to maintain
[00:05:28.290]the Pre-K boost.
[00:05:30.341](gentle music)

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Maintaining the Pre-K Boost

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