Kindergarten

Research on Kindergarten

Much of the research on kindergarten has focused on the relationship between development in kindergarten and learning in later grades. Recent research has explored the relationship between students’ socioeconomic status, their school readiness upon entering kindergarten, and their success trajectories through elementary school and has found that achievement and behavioral gaps between higher and lower income children are present at school entry and tend to increase over time.

Some longitudinal studies have found that children’s social and emotional readiness for schooling contributes to their successful transition to and academic progress through school and have called for programs that support social and emotional development as a means of potentially reducing the achievement gap. Other studies have evaluated efforts designed to close the readiness gap through activities such as community outreach, family support services (including home literacy programs), and transitional kindergarten programs (in which an extra year of kindergarten study provides students time to develop fundamental skills needed for success in school). In addition, researchers have explored the relationship between children’s home language and first language literacy with their English language skill development and academic development through kindergarten and into the first grade.

Other studies have focused on the structural aspects of kindergarten programs, such as what the optimal age is for beginning kindergarten and whether full-day or half-day programs provide a better foundation for students. Much of the early research on the full- versus half-day debate was inconclusive, but recent studies have found that students who attended full-day kindergarten had significantly greater achievement by the end of the kindergarten year and through the first grade. With the recent focus on academic achievement in kindergarten, researchers have studied specific approaches for teaching reading, writing, mathematics, and science, as well as how to best support English language learners.

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