Pre-K attendance and social development: The moderating role of kindergarten classroom experiences

Although academic benefits of pre-K are well established, the associations between pre-K attendance and social and learning behaviours are less clear. Some research suggests that pre-K attenders may enter and exit kindergarten exhibiting less optimal social and learning behaviours than their non-attending peers, and little attention has been paid to how aspects of kindergarten experiences, like academic rigour, activity settings and teacher–student relationships, may contribute to these patterns of development. The current study addresses these gaps in knowledge by using nationally representative data from the ECLSK:2011 (n = 14,260) to examine the social and learning behaviours of pre-K attenders and nonattenders at kindergarten entry and exit. Our results reveal that pre-K attenders are not consistently underperforming their non-attending peers on social and learning behaviours in kindergarten. However, teachers reported that pre-K attenders exhibited more externalising behaviour problems at kindergarten entry and exit, and non-attenders made greater gains in learning behaviours over the kindergarten year. We also found no evidence of moderation when examining our focal classroom experience variables.