An investigation of Head Start preschool children's executive function, early literacy, and numeracy learning in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 school closures and Chinese children's school readiness: Results from the natural experimental data

AIMS

To determine the associations between COVID-19 school closures and school readiness skills for Chinese kindergarteners.

DESIGN

We utilized the natural experimental condition created by local COVID-19 outbreaks in 2022 (Study 1) to compare school readiness skills of children whose kindergartens were closed for 5 months (Group 1) with children whose kindergartens stayed open (Group 2). We further compared the school readiness skills of one pre-COVID-19 cohort (Cohort 2019) with one COVID-19 cohort (Cohort 2021) from a fifth kindergarten (Study 2).

SAMPLES

For Study 1, Group 1 included 445 children and Group 2 included 584 children aged 4-6 years. For Study 2, Cohort 2019 included 156 children and Cohort 2021 included 228 children aged 3-6 years.

MEASURES

For both studies, survey data on four school readiness skills were collected from parents. Additionally, Study 1 collected parental locus of control data from parents.

RESULTS

Controlling for covariates, Study 1 revealed that Group 1 and Group 2 did not differ in terms of language and emergent literacy or approaches to learning. However, Group 1 scored lower than Group 2 on health and well-being and arts and imagination. Study 2 revealed that Cohort 2021 scored higher than Cohort 2019 on language and emergent literacy but lower on the other three skills.

CONCLUSIONS

The associations of COVID-19 school closures with Chinese children's school readiness skills were not uniform, with a positive relation with language and emergent literacy and negative associations with health and well-being, approaches to learning, as well as arts and imagination.

Early Correlates of School Readiness Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic Linking Health and School Data

Importance

Many known correlates of kindergarten readiness are captured in developmental and social screenings in primary care; little is known about how primary care data predicts school readiness.

Objective

To identify early Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) correlates by linking electronic health record (EHR) data with school district KRA data and to examine potential outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic using KRA scores between 2018 and 2021.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This was a retrospective cohort study linking a large primary care practice (PCP) with school assessment data. Linkage used patient name, date of birth, and address. The setting was an urban school district and PCP affiliated with an academic medical center. Students had a KRA score from fall of 2018, 2019, or 2021 (no 2020 KRA due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and at least 1 prior well-child visit at the PCP.

Exposures

Exposures included year KRA administered, reported child race and ethnicity, child sex, interpreter for medical visits, child ever failed Ages & Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) 18 to 54 months, ever rarely read to, Medicaid status, food insecurity, housing insecurity, problems with benefits, and caregiver depressive symptoms.

Main Outcomes and Measures

KRA score (continuous), with a possible range of 0 to 300 (passing score = 270).

Results

A total of 3204 PCP patients (mean [SD] age, 67 [4] months; 1612 male [50.3%]; 2642 Black [82.5%]; 94 Hispanic [2.9%]; 244 White [7.6%]) were matched to their KRA score. Mean (SD) KRA scores were significantly lower in 2021 (mean [SD], 260.0 [13.0]; 214 of 998 [21.4%]) compared with 2019 (mean [SD], 262.7 [13.5]; 317 of 1114 [28.5%]) and 2018 (mean [SD], 263.5 [13.6]; 351 of 1092 [32.1%]), a pattern mirrored in the larger school district. In the linear regression final model (n = 2883), the following binary variables significantly lowered the child's KRA score (points lowered [95% CI]) below a mean passing score of 270.8: child ever failed ASQ after 18 months (-6.7; 95% CI, -7.7 to -5.6), Medicaid insured (-5.7; 95% CI, -9.0 to -2.3), Hispanic ethnicity (-3.8; 95% CI, -6.9 to -0.6), requires interpreter (-3.6; 95% CI, -7.1 to -0.1), 2021 year (-3.5; 95% CI, -4.7 to -2.3), male sex (-2.7; 95% CI, -3.7 to -1.8), ever rarely read to (-1.5; 95% CI, -2.6 to -0.4), and food insecurity (-1.2; 95% CI, -2.4 to -0.1). Race, caregiver depression, housing insecurity, and problems receiving benefits were not associated with KRA scores in final model.

Conclusions and Relevance

Findings of this cohort study suggest a deleterious association of the COVID-19 pandemic with early learning and development. There may be potential for PCPs and school districts to collaborate to identify and mitigate risks much earlier.

Effects of COVID-19 on the educational performance of children with special educational needs and disabilities: A systematic review according to children's/youth's and caregivers' perspectives

This paper aims to provide a first systematic research overview of the effects of the pandemic on the educational performance of children with SEND according to children's/youths and caregivers' perspectives following the PRISMA statement. The studies, published between February 2020 and June 2022, were identified through the search of SCOPUS, EBSCO, PubMed, PsycInfo and two preprint-servers related to Education. In determining which studies to include in the review, the selection criteria were based on (1) articles focusing on ages 4-18 years, (2) articles focusing on children with special educational needs and (3) articles focusing on student achievement during COVID-19. The exhaustive reading and quality assessment left a final sample of nine scientific papers. According to children's/youth's and caregivers' perspectives, there is clear evidence for a negative effect of COVID-19 on the educational performance of children with SEND in the areas of (1) speech and language development (2) home learning (3) academic achievement (4) learning performance and (5) remote learning. The most important findings are to be found in the difficulties faced by children in homework completion, in paying attention during online learning, in efficiently completing tasks, in managing their time and in making progress on their IEP goals during school closures.