Child care quality and cognitive development: trajectories leading to better preacademic skills.
The associations between trajectories of child care quality from ages 2 to 4 years and children's cognitive performance at 4 years (n = 250) were tested. Distinct quality trajectories were identified: low and high ascending Teaching and Interactions trajectory; low and high Provision for Learning trajectory. Membership in the high ascending Teaching and Interactions trajectory was associated with better numeracy (effect size [ES] = .39, confidence interval [CI] = .21-.66), receptive vocabulary (ES = .41, CI = .14-.68), and school readiness (ES = .32, CI = .06-.58). The results suggest that a pattern of increasing quality of teacher-child interactions during the preschool years, particularly with regard to supporting the development of language, has a moderate impact on children's cognitive development.
University of Montreal, Canada. sylvana.cote.1@umontreal.ca
Sylvana M
SM
Côté
Chantal
C
Mongeau
Christa
C
Japel
Qian
Q
Xu
Jean R
JR
Séguin
Richard E
RE
Tremblay
D002654:Child Care / Q000592:standards*; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D012931:Social Environment; D013663:Teaching / Q000592:standards*; D013997:Time Factors