The DOI matches its Crossref record; 56 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Academic Content, Student Learning, and the Persistence of Preschool Effects
Abstract
Little research has examined the relationship between academic content coverage in kindergarten and student achievement. Using nationally representative data, we examine the association between reading and mathematics content coverage in kindergarten and student learning, both overall and for students who attended preschool, Head Start, or participated in other child care prior to kindergarten entry. We find that all children benefit from exposure to advanced content in reading and mathematics and that students do not benefit from basic content coverage. Interestingly, this is true regardless of whether they attended preschool, began kindergarten with more advanced skills, or are from families with low income. Policy implications are discussed.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Claessens et al. [8] and Engel et al. [16] suggested that preschoolers benefit from exposure to advanced content in literacy and math, compared to basic content.”
From SET-PAiREd: Designing for Parental Involvement in Learning with an AI-Assisted Educational Robot (2025) · cites this paper as [8]
Citations
Cites
A Handbook of Child Psychology
(1932) · Nature · doi:10.1038/130331a0 · Cited by 10,133
Analysis of Incomplete Multivariate Data
Schafer, J. L. (1997) · doi:10.1201/9781439821862 · Cited by 6,012
The Bioecological Model of Human Development
Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. A. (2007) · Handbook of Child Psychology · doi:10.1002/9780470147658.chpsy0114 · Cited by 5,760 · cited 1×
“Further, content is an aspect of children’s early classroom contexts that is important for child development (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998, 2007).”
BackgroundAnalysis of Incomplete Multivariate Data
Booth, D. E., & Schafer, J. L. (2000) · Technometrics · doi:10.2307/1271466 · Cited by 5,627
Halford, G. S., & Andrews, G. (2007) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9780470147658 · Cited by 4,912
Moffitt, R. (2009) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.99.2.660 · Cited by 4,888
Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement
Rivkin, S. G., Hanushek, E. A., & Kain, J. F. (2005) · Econometrica · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0262.2005.00584.x · Cited by 4,501
(1998) · Cited by 3,292
How Many Imputations are Really Needed? Some Practical Clarifications of Multiple Imputation Theory
Graham, J. W., Olchowski, A. E., & Gilreath, T. D. (2007) · Prevention Science · doi:10.1007/s11121-007-0070-9 · Cited by 2,795
4. Regression with Missing Ys: An Improved Strategy for Analyzing Multiply Imputed Data
von Hippel, P. T. (2007) · Sociological Methodology · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9531.2007.00180.x · Cited by 1,495
Using Maimonides' Rule to Estimate the Effect of Class Size on Scholastic Achievement
Angrist, J. D., & Lavy, V. (1999) · The Quarterly Journal of Economics · doi:10.1162/003355399556061 · Cited by 1,482
Long-Term Effects of Early Childhood Programs on Cognitive and School Outcomes
Barnett, W. S. (1995) · The Future of Children · doi:10.2307/1602366 · Cited by 1,289
Using Maimonides' Rule to Estimate the Effect of Class Size on Student Achievement
Angrist, J. D., & Lavy, V. (1997) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w5888 · Cited by 1,219
Early Childhood Education: Young Adult Outcomes From the Abecedarian Project
Campbell, F. A., Ramey, C. T., Pungello, E., Sparling, J., & Miller-Johnson, S. (2002) · Applied Developmental Science · doi:10.1207/s1532480xads0601_05 · Cited by 1,144
Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago
McPartland, J. M. (2011) · Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews · doi:10.1177/0094306110391764b · Cited by 1,032
Early Childhood Education Programs
Currie, J. (2001) · The Journal of Economic Perspectives · doi:10.1257/jep.15.2.213 · Cited by 1,002
(2010) · Cited by 990
Does Head Start Make a Difference?
Currie, J., & Thomas, D. (1993) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w4406 · Cited by 927
Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Early Education Interventions on Cognitive and Social Development
Camilli, G., Vargas, S., Ryan, S., & Barnett, W. (2010) · Teachers College Record · doi:10.1177/016146811011200303 · Cited by 854
American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Duflo, E. (2009) · American Economic Review · doi:10.1257/aer.99.2.676 · Cited by 773
Early Childhood Intervention and Life-Cycle Skill Development: Evidence from Head Start
Deming, D. (2009) · American Economic Journal: Applied Economics · doi:10.1257/app.1.3.111 · Cited by 695
Inequality in Preschool Education and School Readiness
Magnuson, K. A., Meyers, M. K., Ruhm, C. J., & Waldfogel, J. (2004) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312041001115 · Cited by 691 · cited 5×
“The academic benefits from early childhood education and care Claessens et al. have been found to be larger among children from economically disadvantaged backgrounds (Magnuson et al., 2004).”
BackgroundResultInfluentialConceptual and procedural knowledge of mathematics: Does one lead to the other?
Rittle‐Johnson, B., & Alibali, M. W. (1999) · Journal of Educational Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0663.91.1.175 · Cited by 615
Answers and Questions About Class Size: A Statewide Experiment
Finn, J. D., & Achilles, C. M. (1990) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312027003557 · Cited by 546
Kindergarten skills and fifth-grade achievement: Evidence from the ECLS-K
Claessens, A., Duncan, G., & Engel, M. (2009) · Economics of Education Review · doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2008.09.003 · Cited by 498
Self-citationThe High/Scope Perry Preschool Program
Belfield, C., Nores, M., Barnett, S., & Schweinhart, L. J. (2006) · The Journal of Human Resources · doi:10.3368/jhr.xli.1.162 · Cited by 485
The SAGE Handbook of Quantitative Methods in Psychology
Millsap, R. E., & Maydeu‐Olivares, A. (2009) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9780857020994 · Cited by 403
Allison, P. D. (2009) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9780857020994.n4 · Cited by 363
Tourangeau, K., Nord, C. W., Lê, T., Sorongon, A. G., & Najarian, M. (2009) · National Center for Education Statistics · Cited by 352
School Quality and the Longer-Term Effects of Head Start
Currie, J., & Thomas, D. (1998) · National Bureau of Economic Research · doi:10.3386/w6362 · Cited by 300
McCartney, K., Burchinal, M., & Bub, K. L. (2006) · Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1540-5834.2006.07103001.x · Cited by 292
Nye, B. A., Hedges, L. V., & Konstantopoulos, S. (2000) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312037001123 · Cited by 289
Stata multiple-imputation reference manual
StataCorp (2011) · Stata Press/StataCorp eBooks · Cited by 284
Head Start Impact Study: First Year Findings.
Puma, M. J., Bell, S., Cook, R., Heid, C. A., & López, M. (2005) · Cited by 278
Engel, M., Claessens, A., & Finch, M. A. (2013) · Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis · doi:10.3102/0162373712461850 · Cited by 259
Self-citationThe persistence of preschool effects: Do subsequent classroom experiences matter?
Magnuson, K., Ruhm, C. J., & Waldfogel, J. (2006) · Early Childhood Research Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2006.10.002 · Cited by 255
School Quality and the Longer-Term Effects of Head Start
Currie, J., & Thomas, D. (2000) · The Journal of Human Resources · doi:10.2307/146372 · Cited by 240
Gorey, K. M. (2001) · School Psychology Quarterly · doi:10.1521/scpq.16.1.9.19163 · Cited by 232
Clements, D. H., Sarama, J. H., Wolfe, C. B., & Spitler, M. E. (2012) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/0002831212469270 · Cited by 206
Where Do Head Start Attendees End Up? One Reason Why Preschool Effects Fade Out
Lee, V. E., & Loeb, S. (1995) · Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis · doi:10.3102/01623737017001062 · Cited by 203
Xue, Y., & Meisels, S. J. (2004) · American Educational Research Journal · doi:10.3102/00028312041001191 · Cited by 170
Byrnes, J. P., & Wasik, B. A. (2009) · Contemporary Educational Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2009.01.002 · Cited by 156
Full‐Day versus Half‐Day Kindergarten: In Which Program Do Children Learn More?
Lee, V. E., Burkam, D. T., Ready, D. D., Honigman, J., & Meisels, S. J. (2006) · American Journal of Education · doi:10.1086/498994 · Cited by 140
Long‐Term Effects of Head Start on Low‐Income Children
Ludwig, J., & Phillips, D. A. (2008) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1196/annals.1425.005 · Cited by 119
Abbott–Shim, M., Lambert, R. G., & McCarty, F. (2003) · Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR) · doi:10.1207/s15327671espr0802_2 · Cited by 114
do instructional practices contribute to inequality in achievement?
Bodovski, K., & Farkas, G. (2007) · Journal of Early Childhood Research · doi:10.1177/1476718x07080476 · Cited by 88
Does full-day kindergarten matter? Evidence from the first two years of schooling
DeCicca, P. (2006) · Economics of Education Review · doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2005.04.003 · Cited by 85
Is full better than half? Examining the longitudinal effects of full‐day kindergarten attendance
Cannon, J. S., Jacknowitz, A., & Painter, G. D. (2006) · Journal of Policy Analysis and Management · doi:10.1002/pam.20174 · Cited by 85
Teacher Qualifications, Instructional Practices, and Reading and Mathematics Gains of Kindergartners
Guarino, C. M., & Hamilton, L. S. (2006) · Cited by 62
The Great Curriculum Debate: How Should We Teach Reading and Math?.
Loveless, T. (2001) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 61
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN SOCIAL SCIENTIST
Jackson, J. P. (2006) · Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1540-5834.2006.00407.x · Cited by 44
Guarino, C. M., Hamilton, L. S., Lockwood, J. R., III, & Rathbun, A. H. (2006) · National Center for Education Statistics · Cited by 42
Sarama, J. H., Clements, D. H., Wolfe, C. B., & Spitler, M. E. (2012) · Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness · doi:10.1080/19345747.2011.627980 · Cited by 41
Bassok, D., & Rosem, A. (2014) · Cited by 22
Boser, U., & Rosenthal, L. (2012) · Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review · Cited by 7
Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Abelson W., 1974, A report on longitudinal evaluations of preschool programs: Vol. 1. Longitudinal evaluations
- Bassok D. P., 2013, Paper presented at the 2013 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development
- Crosnoe R., 2012, Classroom instruction and low-income children’s transitions from preschool into kindergarten
- McCartney K., 2006, Best practices in quantitative methods for developmentalists, monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development
- McKey R. H., 1985, The impact of Head Start on children, families, and communities
- Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Research Consortium, 2008, Effects of preschool curriculum programs on school readiness
- Vygotsky L., 1978, Mind in society
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Watts, T. W., Duncan, G. J., Siegler, R. S., & Davis-Kean, P. E. (2014) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x14553660 · Cited by 587
Is Kindergarten the New First Grade?
Bassok, D., Latham, S., & Rorem, A. (2016) · AERA Open · doi:10.1177/2332858415616358 · Cited by 582
Lipsey, M. W., Farran, D. C., & Durkin, K. L. (2018) · Early Childhood Research Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.03.005 · Cited by 185
Ansari, A., Pianta, R. C., Whittaker, J. V., Vitiello, V. E., & Ruzek, E. A. (2020) · Early Education and Development · doi:10.1080/10409289.2020.1848301 · Cited by 141
“Items were adapted from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten: 2011 Cohort teacher questionnaires following procedures similar to those used by Claessens et al. (2014).”
BackgroundMethodDavis-Kean, P. E., Domina, T., Kuhfeld, M. R., Ellis, A., & Gershoff, E. T. (2021) · Infant and Child Development · doi:10.1002/icd.2281 · Cited by 113
Metadata
- Authors
- Claessens, A., Engel, M., & Curran, F. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago (US)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Venue
- American Educational Research Journal
- Published
- 2014-04
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 403-434
- ISSN
- 0002-8312 (ISSN-L)
- 1935-1011
- OpenAlex
- W2118039332
- Cited by
- 154
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 43.56
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Educational Research Journal (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Keywords
- kindergarten curriculum, reading instruction, mathematics education, Head Start, child care, academic performance, early childhood education, low-income students, early literacy, early numeracy
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review