Study: Preschool Children
Better Prepared for Kindergarten Than Peers Without Preschool
Associated Press, March 29
2004
Children who attend preschool for two years are twice as likely as
children with no preschool experience to have the language, literacy and
math skills needed to be ready for kindergarten, a state study to be
released Monday says.
The legislature's Education Committee requested the study, which was
overseen by the state Commission on Children and supported by the state
Department of Education and the Connecticut Center for School Change. The
aim was to determine how many children in the state's poorest school
districts entered kindergarten with the necessary skills.
Researchers surveyed 400 kindergarten teachers in "priority" school
districts. The teachers rated 3,295 children in the needy districts, which
included Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, Meriden, New Britain, New Haven,
New London, Norwalk, Stamford, Waterbury and Windham.
The study, conducted by Kristine Mika of Marlborough, found that more than
65 percent of children with two years of preschool had most or all the
language and literacy skills needed to be ready kindergarten. Of children
with no preschool experience, 25 percent had the needed skills.
Sixty-seven percent of preschool children had the necessary math skills,
compared with 30 percent of non-preschool children.
The study also found that:
- Preschool children were 11/2 times more likely that non-preschool
children to have the social, emotional and fine motor skills needed to be
ready for kindergarten.
- Predominantly Spanish-speaking children with two years of preschool
experience fared significantly better in language, literacy, math, social,
emotional and fine motor skills than Spanish-speaking children with one
year of preschool.
- 87 percent of parents of children who went to preschool for two years
were seen as highly involved in their children's education.
- Many children are entering kindergarten with health problems. Sixty-five
percent of teachers identified problems that included asthma, skin rashes,
ringworm and lack of physical exams.
"These findings come at a crucial time when state leaders are deciding how
much to invest in school readiness, and whether to expand school readiness
programs for the 18,000 low-income children waiting for preschool
openings," said Elaine Zimmerman, executive director of the Commission on
Children.
The study makes several recommendations on how the state can narrow the
achievement gap between poor and non-poor students and reach other goals.
Some of the recommendations include ensuring full access to preschool
programs in poor school districts, providing two years of preschool rather
than one, ensuring health care access for poor families and maximizing
federal funding of health care for the poor.
