The issue of early learning has always been of significant relevance. A person’s ability to learn is most outstanding in the early years, and the information the brain receives certainly impacts later cognitive abilities (Bakken et al., 2017). The influence of preschool education on a student’s academic success after kindergarten is very relevant from the point of view of modern pedagogy. Modern scientific data indicates that early childhood education can perform significantly better on a range of cognitive tasks (Sierens et al., 2020). In particular, it has been shown that such students make great strides in mathematics and literature (Ellison-Williamson, 2019). The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between access to preschool education and kindergarten results.
Non-profit organizations are a suitable model for this study, as they allow us to partially offset the influence of other factors, such as family well-being. The research was based on Eagle County’s non-profit Magic Bus program. Students were trained in one place for three hours, after which there was a change of location. The sample includes 150 data points collected from various locations. When collecting data, the amount of material received by each student was considered for a correct assessment of his further progress. It was essential to select subjects of approximately the same age, which averaged from three to five years. The study considers data from 2019 to 2021 since the assessment of the academic progress of program participants was only launched in 2021. In the future, it is planned to include data for 2022 in the sample. The results will allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of the program and the benefits of this approach to preschool education in general.
References
Bakken, L., Brown, N., & Downing, B. (2017). Early childhood education: The long-term benefits. Journal of research in Childhood Education, 31(2), 255–269. Web.
Ellison-Williamson, C. (2019). The Effects of Pre-school Enrollment on Math and Literacy Achievement in Kindergarten. Trevecca Nazarene University.
Sierens, S., Van Avermaet, P., Van Houtte, M., & Agirdag, O. (2020). Does preschooling contribute to equity in education?Participation in universal preschool and fourth-grade academic achievement. European Educational Research Journal, 19(6), 564-586. Web.