The Evolution of Pre-K and Its Effects on Education for Poor Communities: Literature Review

Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) programs are ultimately aimed to benefit young children, especially those from low-income communities, as they enhance school readiness (Harden et al., 2023; Ansari & Winsler, 2022). According to Harden et al. (2023), Pre-K programs emerged in the mid-20th century as Early Childhood Education (ECEs) aimed at improving school readiness and enhancing young children’s chances of success in kindergarten and early school years. Additionally, other benefits associated with Pre-K programs include enhanced cognitive development, improved physical and mental health outcomes, higher high school graduation rates among children from low-income backgrounds, and reduced engagement in juvenile delinquency (Harden et al., 2023). Similarly, Ansari & Winsler (2022) posit that Pre-K programs are effective means of preparing young children for school, especially children from low-income and ethnic minorities at higher risk of behavioral and academic difficulties. 

Based on a study carried out on Montessori Pre-K programs, Ansari & Winsler (2022) found that such programs improve low-income Latinx children and their school readiness aspects. According to the study, Latinx children who joined and experienced the Montessori Pre-K programs exhibited greater pre-academic skills at the end of the program compared to their Latinx peers who underwent conventional public schools’ programs (Ansari & Winsler, 2022). Harden et al. (2023) study measures school readiness in terms of language literacy, early numeracy, executive functioning, and early literacy. Such effects significantly predict children’s success in kindergarten and at the elementary level. In an evaluation of Baltimore’s Pre-K programs, Harden et al. (2023) found that 55% of the children admitted to the programs were counted as from low-income backgrounds. Moreover, 75.3% of students were black, proving that the Pre-K programs were effectively and purposely designed to improve school readiness among low-income and racial minority communities. 

Children who joined Pre-K programs in Baltimore exhibited higher executive functioning (EF), shown by higher-order cognitive skills of inhibitory control, working memory, and selective attention (Harden et al., 2023). Moreover, such children had improved receptive vocabulary, early enhanced mathematical problem-solving, and early literacy (decoding). According to Harden et al.'s (2023) study findings, Pre-K programs positively impacted children from various domains: early literacy (d = 0.99–1.36), language (d = 0.41–0.74), and early mathematical problem-solving (d = 0.54–0.71). Therefore, offering early learning opportunities among preschool-aged children enhances their kindergarten readiness and cognitive development, which are predictive factors of positive education outcomes in subsequent education levels, such as high school. Ansari & Winsler’s (2022) study showed similar results: Latinx students who joined Pre-K programs in Montessori scored higher on standardized assessments in reading and math in their third grade. According to Ansari & Winsler (2022), such higher performances are attributed to the fact that those children entered kindergarten more academically ready than their peers who underwent conventional pre-K programs. 

Bouffard (2017) argues that pre-kindergarten classrooms are associated with higher reading and math achievements, stronger social skills, self-control, and positive parenting practices and outcomes later in life. Therefore, alongside academic competence, which boosts school readiness, Pre-K programs enhance learners’ social skills at the pre-kindergarten age, which is among the building blocks of a positive school life and success. Similarly, Ansari & Winsler (2022) posit that teachers in pre-kindergarten learning environments create a positive environment through learning materials and routines that induce positive learner interactions. Such interactions foster a positive environment for the creation and establishment of positive social behavior before Kindergarten (Ansari & Winsler, 2022). Consequently, learners in Pre-K programs showed positive social skills and behavior through organizing games and playing with fellow children in the program, with reduced instances of fights, which indicates behavior problems. However, Harden et al. (2023) found less evidence of the Pre-K programs' effects on children’s social-emotional and self-regulatory processes. Nevertheless, the available evidence shows that children who underwent Pre-K programs showed positive impacts on their executive functioning skills, self-regulatory skills, and social behavior.

According to Bouffard (2017), social skills refer to children’s ability to express their emotions, follow the rules, and be ready for the kindergarten learning environment. Besides the curriculum of math and reading, Pre-K programs have provisions for children’s play, which effectively builds their social skills, aiming at making them better people and social beings (Bouffard, 2017). Therefore, there is the assumption in preschool learning programs that academic learning and social skills are inseparable and almost equally important for children in their current and future lives. Moreover, Bouffard (2017) argues that children with more robust social and emotional skills have a higher probability of succeeding in school in kindergarten and beyond. In essence, social skills promote listening, paying attention, and inhibiting and controlling impulses, placing students in a better position to excel academically and in life outside school. For instance, Conger et al. (2019) report that children who joined kindergarten with enhanced social skills acquired in Pre-K programs showed higher performance in learning English in elementary schools than the students who entered with underdeveloped social skills. 

According to Conger et al. (2019), Pre-K programs enhance children’s social skills that, subsequently improve the learners’ outcomes in kindergarten and improve their connection to the school. Therefore, schools with a higher population of learners who got involved in Pre-K programs show higher levels of school stability than those that did not attend the Pre-K education programs. Importantly, Bouffard (2017) argues that children cannot develop social and emotional well-being skills automatically. Therefore, there is a considerable need for such skills to be taught in all learning environments where learners interact and play. In essence, the Pre-K programs create such conducive environments where learners can effectively and adequately live, interact, learn, and play. According to Bouffard (2017), critics argue that social and emotional skills should be taught at home. However, in dysfunctional homes, primarily found in low-income and racial minority communities, the home environment can significantly compromise the acquisition of such ultimate skills, which even determine success in academics. Bouffard (2017) posits that, on the positive side, the Pre-K programs create an opportunity to complement social skills taught at home for preparing for life in kindergarten.

Pre-K programs improve learners’ probability for grade one admission and school stability. Conger et al.'s (2019) study, based in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, found that enrollment of minority students in Pre-K programs led to higher rates of grade-one admission of minority learners and improved school stability. Based on school stability, Conger et al. (2019) argue that children in public school pre-K programs experience reduced instances of disruptive school moves as they transition from pre-K to kindergarten and from kindergarten to first grade. In essence, in many schools, after children complete their one-year pre-k programs, they are most likely enrolled in the kindergarten of the same school, thus minimizing the transition to a new school in a completely different environment than the one the learner had adequately adapted to. Thus, eliminating the transition from a school to a new one of a completely different environment effectively and positively impacts children’s ability to familiarize themselves with the environment, inclusive of teachers, buildings, and administrators (Conger et al., 2019). In most cases, once a family starts their academic journey in a specific school, they are more likely to wish to stay in that school up to the end of the complementary level. School stability through co-location between pre-k and kindergarten significantly benefits learners from poor backgrounds, primarily racial minorities.

However, Ansari & Winsler (2022) argue that the benefits of the Montessori one-year Pre-K programs faded out after the third grade. Statistically, Pre-K programs’ benefits to the Latinx population in Montessori diminished by an estimated 60-70% by the third grade. The bottom line is that Pre-K programs in Montessori offered children opportunities for cognitive and educational functioning development, which were evident through their higher grades in math and reading standardized examinations in third grade compared to the control population. According to Harden et al. (2023), the opportunities offered to students in Pre-K programs address educational disparities between Low-income and high-income children in math and reading domains in kindergarten. In the long run, the better performance in academics facilitated by the school readiness aspect of Pre-K programs leads to higher performance in subsequent levels, such as kindergarten and high school. In essence, higher graduation rates are associated with positive career growth and better-paying jobs, which ultimately lead to reduced involvement in childhood and adolescent delinquency.