Preschool academic skills improve only when instruction is good to excellent

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/fpgc-pa060716.php

Public Release: 7-Jun-2016
Preschool academic skills improve only when instruction is good to excellent
Study also finds that children show larger gains in academic skills with more time in Head Start
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

New research combining eight large child care studies reveals that preschools prepare children to succeed academically when teachers provide higher quality instruction.

Margaret Burchinal, senior scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, led a research team whose findings have groundbreaking implications for publicly-funded early care and education. They found as the overall quality of instruction in preschool classrooms increases, children experience better outcomes across a range of skills, but the needle only moves on language and reading skills when instructional quality is at or above a threshold.

"Preschoolers in center-based care showed larger gains in reading and language when their teachers spent more time supporting their learning -- but only if the quality of instruction was in the moderate to high range," Burchinal said.

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