Thursday, February 15, 2018

Early Learning Environment Paves Way for Future Academic Skills

A new study found that children's early learning environment in infancy and toddlerhood can predict their academic skills by 5th grade. Children’s early learning environment comprised measures of literacy activities, the quality of mothers’ engagements with children, and learning materials assessed at 14 months, 2 and 3 years, and at pre-kindergarten; learning environments were again assessed in 5th grade. At pre-kindergarten and in 5th grade, children were assessed on pre-academic and academic skills respectively. Early learning environments predicted children’s 5th grade academic skills, and children’s pre-kindergarten skills and 5th grade learning environment mediated longitudinal associations. The early learning environment supports the emergence of pre-academic skills that are stable into early adolescence, and pathways generalize across ethnic/racial groups.

Tamis-LeMonda, C. S., Luo, R., McFadden, K. E., Bandel, E. T., & Vallotton, C. (2017). Early home learning environment predicts children's 5th grade academic skills. Applied Developmental Science, 1-17. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2017.1345634

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