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Children who attended transitional kindergarten showed stronger reading and math achievement in third and fourth grade, with the largest gains among low-income children whose parents spoke English, according to new research from UC Berkeley.
A brief released today by UC Berkeley and the Learning Policy Institute, Who Benefits from Universal Prekindergarten? Examining the Complementary Effects of Three California Education Reforms, draws on a study commissioned by Stanford University that looked at more than 1.6 million students in 6,100 schools and 935 districts who entered kindergarten between 2011 and 2014, and followed their achievement through 2019.
Researchers found that students in cohorts affected by the Kindergarten Readiness Act had reading achievement nearly a grade level higher and math achievement about two-thirds of a grade level higher in third and fourth grade than comparable earlier cohorts.
Low-income children scored about seven months beyond those in the same cohort who did not attend TK in both math and reading. Gains were higher for those who attended state-subsidized preschool at age 3 and then transitional kindergarten at age 4.
“This combination of public preschool at 3 and 4 years of age dramatically helped young children build stronger reading and math skills,” UC Berkeley professor Rucker Johnson and co-author of the study said in a press release. “The cumulative effect of investing in the early years matters.”
TK attendance did not benefit children from higher-income families as much. Those who attended TK showed about 3 1/2 months of additional learning in fourth grade math, and no change in reading. The researchers said this could be because these families already had access to private preschool before the introduction of TK.
For children from low-income families whose parents spoke a language other than English, attending TK only gave them about two months more learning in math and reading. But if they attended state-subsidized preschool and then TK, their math levels were almost six months higher.
The study also found that the positive effects of transitional kindergarten were more pronounced and lasted longer for students who attended schools with more resources.
“This research gives clear evidence that early learning investments aren’t isolated levers, but parts of a connected pipeline,” said Elena Silva, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute in the press release.
The researchers said the study shows the importance of continuing to invest in TK, state-subsidized preschool and in support for students who speak languages other than English.
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