Early childhood language gains, kindergarten readiness, and Grade 3 reading achievement

Authors

Jessica A.R. Logan, The Ohio State/Vanderbilt UniversityFollow
Shayne B. Piasta, The Ohio State UniversityFollow
Kelly M. Purtell, The Ohio State UniversityFollow
Robert Nichols, The Ohio State University
Rachel E. Schachter, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

ORCID IDs

Jessica A. R. Logan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3113-4346

Shayne B. Piasta https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3655-4702

Date of this Version

12-2023

Citation

Published in Child Development, 2023

doi:10.1111/cdev.14019

Comments

Copyright © 2023 by the Authors.

Child Development is © 2023 by Society for Research in Child Development.

Used by permission

Abstract

In this preregistered study, we used latent change score models to address two research aims: (1) whether preschool-aged children's language gains, over a year of early childhood education, were associated with later performance on state-mandated, literacy-focused kindergarten readiness and Grade 3 reading achievement assessments, and (2) whether gains in language, a more complex skill, predicted these outcomes after controlling for more basic emergent literacy skills. There were 724 participating children (mean = 57 months; 51% male; 76% White, 12% Black, 6% multiple races, and 5% Hispanic or Latino). We found that language gains significantly predicted kindergarten readiness when estimated in isolation (effect = 0.24 SDs, p < .001), but not when gains in letter knowledge and phonological awareness were also included.