ISBN: 1877140414 9781877140419

Category: Family & Relationships / Life Stages / School Age

Page count: 196

The longitudinal New Zealand project "Competent Children" has two objectives: to describe and analyze variations and changes in children's cognitive, social, communicative and problem-solving competencies from the time they begin school at the age of five; and to determine what impact children's early childhood education experiences, family resources, home activities, and school resources have on these competencies. This report covers the second phase, when children were aged 6 and at the end of their first year at school and compares those data with data for age 5, when the children were still in early childhood education programs. The chapters in the report delineate findings in the areas of family resources and children's health and behavior; activities at home; and children competencies as they relate to their early childhood experience, and school and family resources. The report highlights the following findings: (1) children made the most competency gains in mathematics and in reading between ages 5 and 6; (2) children's mathematics scores at age 5 were the best predictor of their overall performance at age 6; (3) a year after the children left preschool, early childhood education continued to make a contribution to children's competency levels; (4) children who had at least 3 years of early childhood education experience scored higher than those with fewer years; and (5) factors affecting scores included small class size, socioeconomic mix of the school, prior family experiences and resource levels, children's current home activities, and family income. Appendices include principal components and factor analyses, and the study instruments. (Contains 43 references, 83 tables, and 3 figures.) (LBT)