ReviewHow does early childhood care and education affect cognitive development? An international review of the effects of early interventions for children from different social backgrounds
Section snippets
Research objectives
The present review explores the cognitive development of children who attended an early care and education program comparing target children's progress with children who may have participated in all kinds of alternative programs or have not been cared for in a formal preschool setting at all. Along with the general effects on the child's cognitive development, the paper analyzes whether early interventions help to overcome social inequality, and if so, whether these interventions can ensure
Effects of socio-economic status on the development of children
Socio-economic status refers to the relative position an individual, a family, or a group holds within a societal hierarchy according to its access to or power over valued goods such as wealth or social recognition and privileges (McLoyd, 1998). Under these terms, the members of a society can be classified into different social strata according to the status values they have acquired. Typically, parental occupation and education, family income, power, and prestige are important components of
Early education and care and equality of opportunity
The aforementioned findings show that children from different social backgrounds have unequal skill levels when they enter school. The vast majority of early education and care programs strive to counteract such inequalities. By fostering the development in the early years, they aim to ensure that all children – regardless of their social background – have the prerequisites for a successful start at school (e.g., Siraj-Blatchford, 2004). If all children attain these prerequisites, they can be
Related analyses and main focus of the present analysis
Many specific questions have been analyzed in early childhood research. The following overview about research into the acquisition of skills and educational development of children may give insight into some of the most prominent research questions. So far, these questions have concerned the influence of time spent in preschool (e.g., Walston & West, 2004) and the differential effectiveness of different types of preschool provision (e.g., Schweinhart & Weikart, 1997). A number of authors have
Systematic review
In order to gain an overview of the relevant research, recent studies were analyzed using focused categorizing of empirical findings. Systematic reviews and evidence-based conclusions are increasingly important for policy decision making. In education systems with rising demand and limited resources, methodical assessment of educational technologies is important for those who make resource allocation decisions. Moreover, reviews provide researchers with useful syntheses of the primary research
Empirical evidence
Table 1 provides general information on the selected studies. For age at entry, there was variability among the different programs. Typically, children were between three and five years of age when they participated in early education and care programs. The mean duration of attendance varied between less than one year and more than three years with a majority of children attending a program for one to two years. Most of the research projects reached at least into the primary school years. Some
Conclusion
The present paper reports on the effects of early childhood education and care on cognitive development and the extent to which preschool programs can establish equality of educational opportunity for children from different social backgrounds. As outlined, early education and care programs typically aim to enhance those intellectual and social abilities of children which are the basis for their subsequent development. They aim to provide children with a favorable start at school and to prevent
References (137)
- et al.
The effectiveness of early childhood development programs
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
(2003) - et al.
Children's acquisition of early literacy skills: Examining family contributions
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
(2002) - et al.
Developing an evidence-based guide to community preventive services – methods
American Journal of Preventive Medicine
(2000) - et al.
Predicting kindergarten academic skills: Interactions among child care, maternal education, and family literacy environments
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
(1998) - et al.
Success outcomes of full-day kindergarten: More positive behavior and increased achievement in the years after
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
(1992) - et al.
Self-regulation and the income-achievement gap
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
(2008) - et al.
A model of home learning environment and social risk factors in relation to children's emergent literacy and social outcomes
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
(2005) - et al.
A critical meta-analysis of all evaluations of state-funded preschool from 1977 to 1998: Implications for policy, service delivery and program evaluation
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
(2001) - et al.
Effectiveness of a comprehensive, five-year family support program for low-income children and their families: Findings from the comprehensive child development program
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
(2000) How social contexts support and shape language development
Developmental Review
(2006)
Socioeconomic status and cultural influences on language
Journal of Communication Disorders
Ready to learn? Children's pre-academic achievement in pre-kindergarten programs
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Predicting children's academic achievement from early assessment scores: A validity generalization study
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
The persistence of preschool effects: Do subsequent classroom experiences matter?
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Differential effects of three preschool models on inner-city 4-year-olds
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Preschool experience in 10 countries: Cognitive and language performance at age 7
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Preschoolers’ academic readiness: What role does the teacher-child relationship play?
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
The role of home literacy environment in the development of language ability in preschool children from low-income families
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Ethnische Ungleichheit im deutschen Bildungssystem
Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie
“Let us live with our children”: Kindergarten movements in Germany and the United States, 1840–1914
History of Education Quarterly
Renditen der Bildung – Investitionen in den frühkindlichen Bereich [Return of education – Investments in the preschool sector]
Long-term effects of early childhood programs on cognitive and school outcomes
The Future of Children
Early childhood development and social mobility
The Future of Children
Emanuel Miller lecture: Developmental risks (still) associated with early child care
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Early child care and early child development: Major findings of the NICHD study of early child care
European Journal of Developmental Psychology
Early childhood programs in other nations: Goals and outcomes
The Future of Children
IGLU 2006. Lesekompetenzen von Grundschulkindern in Deutschland im internationalen Vergleich
Bildungseffekte vorschulischer Kinderbetreuung
Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie
Scolarisation à 2 ans et réussite de la carrière scolaire au début de l’école élémentaire
Éducation & formations
Three conditions under which experiments and observational studies produce comparable causal estimates: New findings from within-study comparisons
Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
Early childhood education programs
Journal of Economic Perspectives
Gasteditorial: Bildung im Kindergarten und Früheinschulung. Ein Fall von Ignoranz und Forschungsamnesie
Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie
A large-scale longitudinal study of the utilization and effects of early childhood education and care in the Netherlands
Early Child Development and Care
Economic deprivation and early childhood development
Child Development
Teachers’ education, classroom quality, and young children's academic skills: Results from seven studies of preschool programs
Child Development
The role of schools in sustaining early childhood program benefits
The Future of Children
Cited by (420)
Willingness-to-pay for early childhood development: A field experiment in Western China
2024, China Economic ReviewCan sports and music level the playing field? Adolescents’ extracurricular activities and the reproduction of social inequalities in cognitive skills
2024, Research in Social Stratification and MobilityIt takes a village: A multi-brain approach to studying multigenerational family communication
2024, Developmental Cognitive NeuroscienceIs universal early childhood education and care an equalizer? A systematic review and meta-analysis of evidence
2024, Research in Social Stratification and MobilityParental early-life exposure to land reform and household investment in children's education
2024, World DevelopmentUrban-rural achievement gap in low- and middle-income countries: The role of early childhood education
2024, Early Childhood Research Quarterly