Enrollment in Pre-K and Children's Social-Emotional and Executive Functioning Skills: To What Extent Are Associations Sustained Across Time?

• Published in: Journal of educational psychology 2023-04, Vol.115 (3), p.460-474
• Main Authors: Moffett, Lillie, Weissman, Amanda, McCormick, Meghan, Weiland, Christina, Hsueh, JoAnn, Snow, Catherine, Sachs, Jason
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child Development; Cognitive Ability; Education; Elementary Education; Elementary School Students; Elementary Schools; Emotions; Enrollment; Enrollments; Executive Function; Female; Human; Kindergarten; Kindergarten students; Learning Ability; Male; Preschool Education; School Learning; School Readiness; Short Term Memory; Social & emotional learning; Socioemotional Functioning; Test Construction; Young Children
• ISSN: 0022-0663; 1939-2176
• DOI: 10.1037/edu0000782

Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) improves the school readiness of all children, but less is known about whether associations between enrollment in Pre-K and different indicators of social-emotional and executive functioning (EF) skills are sustained as children move into and across elementary school. The current study examines associations between enrollment in the Boston Public Schools (BPS) Pre-K program and children's (N = 508) social-emotional, approaches to learning, and EF skills at both the start and end of kindergarten. Results from multilevel regression models revealed that children who enrolled in BPS Pre-K started kindergarten with lower internalizing behaviors and higher levels of task orientation than their peers. These associations, however, were not sustained through the end of kindergarten. Instead, there were emerging associations between BPS Pre-K and two dimensions of EF-working memory and inhibitory control-at the end of the kindergarten year. The results were robust to different model specifications, including inverse probability of treatment weighting. Taken together, the results highlight the importance of examining links between high-quality Pre-K and different indicators of children's social-emotional and EF skills across time in order to provide a more complete picture of how Pre-K supports different types of skills across time. Educational Impact and Implications Statement While many studies of Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) programs focus on academic outcomes, this study investigates nuances in Pre-K attenders' social-emotional and executive functioning (EF) skills at the beginning and end of kindergarten. We found that children who attended the high-quality Boston Public Schools Pre-K program entered kindergarten with lower internalizing behavior and higher academic engagement compared to their peers who attended other programs prior to kindergarten or no program at all. Interestingly, these associations were attenuated by the end of the kindergarten year, and a new gap in attenders' and nonattenders' EF skills emerged that was not present at the beginning of kindergarten. This highlights the importance of further study of Pre-K program impacts on children's nonacademic skills. It is possible that while kindergarten may "catch up" children in their social-emotional skill development, Pre-K may be particularly important for nurturing young children's EF skills.