The advantages acquired by some children before entering primary school do not last and are almost halved after the first year.
- The learning gain is greater at school for children who have not taken private lessons to get ahead.
- The reduction in the gap differs depending on the subject and dissipates more easily for literary than scientific subjects.
School erases differences. This is how we can translate the results of an American study on the level gap between children at an early age. The researchers were interested in comparing the extent to which children who go to preschool, the equivalent of the small and medium section of kindergarten which are almost exclusively private and therefore not accessible to everyone, are advantaged when entering the kindergarten, our large kindergarten section. It turns out that the benefits gained quickly dissipate to be nearly halved by the end of the kindergarten year. The findings were published by the American Psychological Association in the journal Developmental Psychology.
Greater learning gains for students who have not completed pre-training
The researchers studied 2,581 children from low-income families enrolled in kindergarten, the equivalent of the large kindergarten section. Just over half, 1,334, attended a preschool program, a preschool. The researchers assessed all the children based on their academic skills, from reading to math, their executive functioning which encompasses a set of mental skills that includes working memory, flexible thinking and self-control, and skills socio-emotional, considered important for academic success. The assessments were carried out in two stages, first at the beginning of the year and then in the spring.
The results showed that if an advantage is felt between the students at the beginning of the year, it dissipates as time goes on. “We found that students who attended a preschool program enter kindergarten with stronger academic skills than those who did not. The same is true for executive functioning but there was no overall difference in kindergarten teachers’ reports of their socio-emotional skills.observed Arya Ansari, lead author of the study. However, we also found that the differences between the two groups diminish between fall and spring, primarily because those who did not attend a preschool program made greater learning gains compared to their peers in class.”
Disparities according to subjects
These differences in progression between students vary by skill, the researchers observed. For children who did not attend preschool, about 80% of the difference in literary tests, such as reading and writing, has disappeared. On the other hand, this was only the case for 55% of the difference in math skills and 45% of the difference in vocabulary and general knowledge. “Importantly, all children, regardless of pre-kindergarten participation, demonstrated improvements in their academic and executive skills in kindergartenwanted to report Arya Ansari. However, those who had pre-schooling made smaller improvements than their peers who did not..”
The researchers add that these results should be viewed with caution. Since they only studied children from low-income families, generalization to higher-income families is not automatic. “An interesting part of our findings is that children’s classroom experiences in kindergarten have little to do with the persistence of pre-kindergarten benefits over time.advanced the researcher. Instead, what our results seem to suggest is that while children’s skills are likely to improve following pre-kindergarten, their long-term outcomes are likely to be affected by factors unrelated to early schooling. We need to see preschool as one of the many investments we make to ensure all children have an equal chance to succeed in life..”
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