| Therese Pigott
Loyola University Chicago
Correlates of success in kindergarten
FINAL REPORT:
This research project examines the growth in reading and math achievement for children in kindergarten and 1st grade, comparing children who attended a Head Start program prior to kindergarten with their peers at the same schools who did not attend Head Start. The data are from the first two years of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS), following children from the start of kindergarten until the end of first grade. The study follows up on a prior study that at the start of kindergarten Head Start children outperformed their peers in schools with high concentrations of low income students. Head Start children entering schools with children from diverse socio-economic backgrounds scored below their same-school peers. This study examines the growth of this same sample of children through first grade. Using hierarchical linear models, the Head Start children and their peers in the same schools grow in math and reading at rates faster than children with the same initial test scores in more affluent schools. However, the Head Start children and their peers tend to start out in kindergarten with lower math and reading scores, and are still behind by the end of first grade.
Back to Funded Research Grants Page |