Behind on the first day of kindergarten: Few kids catch up

Kindergarten readiness predicts which children will be proficient in reading and math in third grade, writes Fordham's Kennedy Sundberg. And third-grade proficiency strongly predict later outcomes, including success in high school and graduation.

Photo: Pavel Danilyuk/Pexels

In “Behind at the Starting Line: What Kindergarten Test Scores Tell Us About Reaching Proficiency in Third Grade,” NWEA’s Megan Kuhfeld, Karyn Lewis, and Emily Morton find that "early achievement is a powerful signal but not a determinant," Sundberg writes. "Among students in the bottom quintile at kindergarten entry, 10.3 percent reached math proficiency by third grade. Among students who were still scoring in the lowest group by spring of first grade, only 2.1 percent reached math proficiency by third grade."

That is, if students who don't get extra math support before the end of first grade -- and most do not -- "have a much narrower path to proficiency."

Students who started behind in reading were more likely to catch up, researchers found. "Many states have spent the last decade investing in universal reading screening, early literacy interventions, and read-by-grade-three initiatives," writes Sundberg. "Similar policies for early numeracy are far less widespread."

Schools often intervene too late, writes Dale Chu. "There’s an old adage that it’s better to build a sturdy fence at the top of a cliff than station an ambulance at the bottom."

When I tutored first graders in reading, I saw a number of kids who were going to be diagnosed with dyslexia, some other reading disability and/or ADHD in second grade. But nobody could be assessed till then. Instead of a reading specialist, they got an untrained volunteer and two years of increasing frustration and failure.

That's not just true for foundational reading and math skills, he argues. It's true for behavior. "By the time a student has misbehaved himself into suspension, expulsion, or involvement with law enforcement, the school is often dealing with behavior that has escalated over months or even years."

As researchED’s Tom Bennett has written, schools need to establish clear routines, expectations, and boundaries before problems arise. “It’s all about building that fence.”

New research boosts the case for pre-K, report Elizabeth Heubeck and Jennifer Vilcarino on Education Week. Low-income students in Miami-Dade County "who attended public school pre-K performed better academically in 3rd grade than their peers who attended either center-based care or family childcare as 4-year-olds."

Earlier research has shown mixed results with some studies showing benefits, others finding gains fade out by third grade and "still others show worse academic outcomes for children who attended pre-K over peers who didn’t," report Heubeck and Vilcarino.

This study, which was conducted by Florida International University and George Mason University researchers and published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly, found higher grades and test scores for third-graders who'd attended public pre-K. They also were less likely to repeat the grade compared to students who'd attended family childcare.

It contradicts a Vanderbilt study that found low-income Tennessee students who attended pre-K "had more disciplinary infractions, worse attendance, and lower state achievement test scores through 6th grade than their peers — some of whom attended Head Start, center-based childcare, or home-based care," report Heubeck and Vilcarino.

If pre-K isn't done well, it doesn't help and may hurt, researchers warn. Furthermore, high-quality early-childhood experiences don't protect students from low-quality elementary teaching.

The Trump administration plans to deregulate Head Start, the Great Society program that funds child care and preschool for low-income children, EdWeek notes. "At the same time, several states are pushing to increase access to publicly funded preschool or have already done so."

Head Start has never worked, argues Heather Mac Donald in City Journal.

Head Start should be turned into a "full-fledged school readiness program," not just a child-development program, writes Checker Finn on Education Next. Yes, it's over-regulated and under-performing. But, "at a time when every known assessment of children’s “kindergarten readiness” shows immense shortcomings among half or more of America’s five-year-olds and when “universal preschool education” remains a potent political war-cry and policy objective, undoing the elements of Head Start (or any early-childhood program) that focus on cognition and school preparation in basic skills should strike any sentient being as folly."