The 2023 State of Preschool Yearbook

 

The 2023 State of Preschool Yearbook provides critical insights into the current landscape of preschool education in America. Amidst the challenges of the past few years, state pre-K programs have shown remarkable resilience, with enrollment, spending, and quality standards reaching new highs in 2022-2023. However, there is still much work to be done to ensure equitable access to quality preschool education for every child.

Here are some key highlights from the report:

• Enrollment Increase: Enrollment in preschool increased in 2022-2023, reaching all-time highs for the percentage of both 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds enrolled. Despite this progress, the number of children enrolled in state-funded preschool remains lower than pre-pandemic levels.

• Increased Spending: State spending on preschool surpassed $11.73 billion, with per-child spending exceeding $7000. Spending increased more than $1 billion from the prior year but inadequate funding remains a nearly universal problem.

• Quality Progress: Progress was made in improving quality standards in four states but too many states still fall short of setting high standards for program quality. Quality matters, and continued efforts are needed to ensure that every child receives a high-quality preschool education.

Gender stereotypes in schools impact on girls and boys with mental health difficulties

 

Gender stereotypes mean that girls can be celebrated for their emotional openness and maturity in school, while boys are seen as likely to mask their emotional distress through silence or disruptive behaviours.

 

Children and teachers who took part in the study said they feared the mental health needs of boys might be missed at school, which makes them an ‘at risk’ group.

 

Researchers have warned of the negative impacts on girls where the manifestation of emotional distress such as crying or self-harm could become “feminised and diminished”, so taken less seriously.

 

They have called for increased awareness of the role of gender in mental health services offered in schools and resultant inequalities.

 

The study was carried out by Lauren Stentiford, George Koutsouris, Tricia Nash and Alexandra Allan from the School of Education at the University of Exeter. They interviewed pupils at two secondary schools in England to ask them: ‘Do you think that girls and boys experience mental health in the same way?’.

 

One school was a mixed grammar school in a predominantly white, middle-class rural area and another was a mixed comprehensive school in a predominantly white, working-class urban area. The research took place in autumn 2022.

 

Researchers spoke to 34 students aged between 12 and 17. Seventeen students identified as female, 12 as male, and 5 as gender diverse. They also interviewed 18 members of staff, including a headteacher, school counsellor, SENCO, and classroom teacher.

 

The majority - 43 out of 52 - felt girls and boys experienced mental health in different ways because of stereotypes that girls are open about their emotions, but boys will hide them.

 

One pupil, Willow, said: “Girls are more inclined I feel to talk to each other about [mental health] because we’re not told to repress our emotions”. Another, Kayla, said: “Boys just don’t, they barely tell anyone anything that they don’t want to talk about because they feel like they’ll be looked at and be told the phrase ‘man up’ or ‘boys don’t cry”.

 

The phrase ‘man up’ was referenced multiple times by different staff members and students in both schools.

 

Participants spoke of persistent and troublesome expectations that boys should not show their emotions.

 

Dr Stentiford said: “There was a perception that girls are at an advantage over boys in receiving mental health support.

 

“Students and staff members tended to position girls as above boys in the hierarchy for mental health support because of their perceived emotional openness. Girls were seen as being more emotionally mature than boys and would actively look for help when they needed it.

 

“There was also evidence of participants understanding emotional distress as manifesting itself differently in girls and boys in school, with girls more likely to cry or withdraw, and boys more likely to engage in off-task or disruptive behaviours such as ‘messing around’ in class.

 

“The implications were that girls are seen as more likely to be identified quickly as in need of mental health support, whereas boys could be ‘missed’ because their disruptive behaviours are misinterpreted. Both girls and boys therefore remain ‘trapped’ in unhelpful gender stereotypes around mental health.   

 

“The research suggests there is a new and emerging form of gender inequality, set against the context of a perceived growing mental health ‘crisis’ amongst young people.

 

“There are dangers around devaluing girls’ wellbeing if ‘emotional’ girls are seen as unfairly advantaged and taking up time and support for mental health difficulties at the expense of boys, who are seen as particularly ‘at risk’ and a hidden problem.”

 

DOI

10.1080/00131911.2024.2306947 

Report finds significant gender and racial inequities in the educational measurement profession

 

Gender and racially based employment disparities, differences in perceptions of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and workplace discrimination remain significant issues in the field of educational measurement, according to a new report supported by the American Educational Research Association (AERA), the National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME), and Women in Measurement (WIM). Educational measurement professionals who work at universities, thinktanks, and other research organizations are on the cutting-edge of designing methods and techniques used to measure learning and other educational outcomes.

The report was authored by Thao Vo (Washington State University), Susan Lyons (WIM), Felice J. Levine (AERA), Nathan E. Bell (AERA), and Ye Tong (NBME). Among the major findings of the study of 1,312 individuals who are members of AERA’s Division D—Measurement and Research Methodologies, NCME, and WIM:

• There are significant differences in salary and professional rank across gender and racial groups, with White men reporting higher salary ranges and occupying more senior positions compared to their counterparts from other gender and racial groups.
• Professionals from different gender and racial groups are experiencing DEI issues differently, with women of color consistently reporting the lowest perception of organizational DEI effectiveness.
• Nearly 13 percent of respondents reported experiencing discrimination within the last 12 months that hindered their professional growth, with women of color being the most affected group. The overwhelming majority of these instances were reportedly unaddressed.  

“With an increasingly diverse student population, it is important the field of educational measurement is attuned to and reflects that diversity,” said AERA Executive Director Felice J. Levine. “Creating a more just and equitable profession will ensure that what is being measured and how it is being measured fully captures the full range of experiences across groups of students.”

“This important work shines a spotlight on the community of professionals working in educational measurement and the employers who recruit and develop them and benefit from their work,” said NCME President Michael Walker. “Employers and organizations need to take significant steps toward creating more equitable and inclusive workplaces.”

Susan Lyons, co-founder and executive director of Women in Measurement, highlighted the need to take action: “Our findings serve as a call of action for ongoing commitment and tangible change, emphasizing the importance of understanding and addressing the unique challenges faced by underrepresented groups in educational measurement. We urge employers to take proactive steps to further support and advance DEI and antidiscrimination efforts in the educational measurement profession.”

The report provides five actionable recommendations for employers across all institutional and organizational settings to enhance DEI in the workplace.

1. Employers should publicly evaluate, acknowledge, and commit to a plan for increasing diversity representation.
2. Employers should conduct thorough pay equity audits and make necessary corrections so employers can ensure that their employees are compensated fairly regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity.
3. Employers should invest in antibias and antidiscrimination training to foster a work culture where employees understand their conscious, subconscious, and unconscious biases.
4. Employers should focus on transparently communicating how policies are evaluated and enacted, including providing employees with a clear understanding of the decision-making process and the rationale behind policy changes.
5. To effectively gauge the impact of DEI policies and initiatives, employers should invest in gathering regular feedback from employees.

Public Preschool Predicts Stronger Third-Grade Academic Skills

 

Complete study

Public preschool boosts academic skills in kindergarten, but little is known about whether that boost lasts to third grade because many studies stop directly assessing children after kindergarten. The current study tests for sustained associations between preschool attendance and an array of repeatedly measured, directly assessed language and math skills. The study does this separately for public pre-K and Head Start, the two major publicly funded preschool programs., drawing on a large, racially diverse sample of children from families with low incomes in Tulsa, OK (N = 689, Mage at 3rd = 8.5 years). 

Using propensity score weighting, the authors compare children who attended school-based pre-K or Head Start to those who did not attend preschool. Both school-based pre-K and Head Start attenders outperformed preschool nonattenders on numeracy in third grade. There was weaker evidence of a sustained preschool advantage on language and literacy skills, and no evidence that associations differed by preschool program.

Does Family Socioeconomic Status Influence Children’s Reading Ability?

 Many studies have shown that family socioeconomic status (SES) influences the development of children’s reading ability; however, the mechanisms underlying this effect remain unclear. This study used meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) analysis to examine the mediating role of children’s linguistic skills (phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge) in the relationships between SES and reading (accuracy, fluency, and comprehension), as well as potential moderators including age, country SES, SES measurement type, and writing system based on 85,102 individuals from 471 independent studies. 

The results indicated that (1) the relations between SES and reading were partially mediated by phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge and (2) although age, country SES, SES measurement type, and writing system did not moderate the direct associations between SES and reading abilities, the moderation effects of age, country SES, SES measurement type, and writing system could manifest through the linguistic mediation pathway: older age, higher country SES, composite SES index, and alphabetic languages might induce a larger indirect impact from SES to reading ability. 

These results suggested that SES exerted both direct and indirect effects on reading via linguistic skills. Such a linguistic mediation mechanism may be moderated by age, country SES, SES measurement type, and writing system.

Effect of Early Warning System on Student Absence

 

Many schools across the United States use the Early Warning System (EWS) to identify chronically absent students on time and intervene. The prediction power of the EWS is well examined but more evidence is needed about their effectiveness at reducing student absence. This study examines the effect of EWS on student absence in a large urban school district using a multiple-cutoff regression discontinuity design. 

Findings indicate that EWS reduces chronic absence among socioeconomically advantaged students. However, it has no significant effect on chronic absence among socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Furthermore, EWS has no significant effect on moderate absence. These results suggest that schools should consider social and institutional barriers to improving attendance, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

Growth mindset messages can close grade gap for first-generation students

. – Just two emails, at the right time with the right message, can make a big difference for students who are the first in their families to go to college.     

A recent Washington State University study highlighted the power of an instructors’ growth mindset -- the belief that abilities are not innate but can be improved. Researchers found that when first-generation students in an introductory science course received growth mindset emails after their initial exams, they did better in the whole course than a control group.

On average the students raised their final grade by about a third of a letter grade, such as moving from a C+ to a B-, making their overall performance on par with “continuing-generation” students, whose parents had graduated from college. The findings are reported in the journal CBE: Life Sciences Education.

“It's a pretty sizable effect,” said lead author Elizabeth Canning, a WSU psychology researcher. “Many studies have shown that continuing generation students outperform first-generation students, but in the condition where we sent emails from the instructor that had growth mindset language, we saw that difference in performance completely go away.”

Canning and graduate student Makita White conducted the study in a large, introductory biology class taught by WSU Professor Bill Davis online in 2021 during the pandemic. The course is considered challenging, and as a prerequisite to many majors, it can determine whether a student continues on to a medical or scientific career.

After the first two exams about 200 students were sent a standard email telling them that exam grades had been posted online and reminding them of the professor’s office hours. Another 200 students received longer emails after those exams which also contained the professor’s growth mindset views.

The messages were based on a theory called “wise interventions,” Canning said, meaning they are designed to come at critical times of uncertainty in a student’s development. The emails not only emphasized that improvement in the class was possible even after a low exam grade but also normalized struggling academically.

For example, the professor said he had worked with many students in the past who performed poorly on the first exam but turned things around on future tests, and they did so by figuring out better ways to learn in the course. Then, he gave specific actions they could take, such as forming a study group or accessing extra resources.

Since the course was taught completely online, the researchers could see if the students’ behavior changed following the exams. They found that the students who received the growth mindset messages went to the course website, accessed lecture materials and study notes more often. The first-generation students performed better on the third exam, and ultimately, achieved a better grade in the whole course than the control group.  

First-generation college students tend to face a lot of challenges simply because they do not have parents who have university-experience to help them. Other research shows that they tend to ask fewer questions in class and do not access resources, such as attending instructor office hours, as often as continuing-generation students. They also represent about one-third of all college attendees.

“Just for equity reasons, it’s important to help first-generation students,” said Canning. “But especially in STEM fields, to keep up with medical advances and rapidly changing technology, we need apable students who have a foundation in science, so retaining them is especially important.”

This study received support from the National Science Foundation. Based on the promise of this work, Canning’s team has received another NSF grant for a larger, national study involving 10,000 students to look at the impact of this type of intervention on minority students.