title: Classroom Age Composition and the School Readiness of 3- and 4-Year-Olds in the Head Start Program.
abstract: The federal Head Start program, designed to improve the school readiness of children from low-income families, often serves 3- and 4-year-olds in the same classrooms. Given the developmental differences between 3- and 4-year-olds, it is unknown whether educating them together in the same classrooms benefits one group, both, or neither. Using data from the Family and Child Experiences Survey 2009 cohort, this study used a peer-effects framework to examine the associations between mixed-age classrooms and the school readiness of a nationally representative sample of newly enrolled 3-year-olds (n = 1,644) and 4-year-olds (n = 1,185) in the Head Start program. Results revealed that 4-year-olds displayed fewer gains in academic skills during the preschool year when they were enrolled in classrooms with more 3-year-olds; effect sizes corresponded to 4 to 5 months of academic development. In contrast, classroom age composition was not consistently associated with 3-year-olds' school readiness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin aansari@utexas.edu.
authors.forename: Arya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ansari
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Sciences, The Ohio State University.
authors.forename: Kelly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Purtell
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Texas at Austin.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gershoff
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D017145:Models, Educational; D010379:Peer Group; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology*; D012574:Schools; D012931:Social Environment; D014481:United States
keywords: FACES 2009; Head Start; classroom age composition; peer effects; school readiness