America's Kindergartners

The U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has released findings from a longitudinal study of 22,000 children who entered kindergarten in 1998. The comprehensive study, America's Kindergartners, will track this group of children through the fifth grade. Researchers assessed children on-site in their schools, interviewed parents over the phone, and collected questionnaires from the children's teachers. The report studies the relationship between children's home environment, classroom and school experiences, and school performance. Some key findings are highlighted below.

Cognitive Skills and Knowledge

Children's reading and mathematics levels and general knowledge tended to be greater for older kindergartners (born in 1992) than young kindergartners (born in 1993), for those children whose mothers have more education, and for kindergartners from two-parent families.

Social Skills

Teachers and parents provided different perspectives on children's social skills, with parents being somewhat more optimistic about their children's ability to make friends and teachers reporting less arguing and fighting among peers than parents reported.

Physical Health and Well-Being

Approximately 40% of the children whose families had utilized public assistance were rated in excellent health compared to 60% of children whose families never were on public assistance. A small percentage of kindergartners showed signs of developmental difficulty.

Child Care

About 4 out of 5 children received care regularly from someone other than their parents before entering kindergarten and about 50% were in before- or after-school child care during the kindergarten year. Child care arrangements differed according to the mother's level of education. Those with a college education were most likely to use center-based care.