Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) improves the school readiness of all children, but less is known about whether associations between enrollment in Pre-K and different indicators of social-emotional and executive functioning (EF) skills are sustained as children move into and across elementary school. The current study examines associations between…

The sustaining environments hypothesis theorizes that the lasting effects of PreK programs are contingent on the quality of the subsequent learning environment in early elementary school. The current study tests this theory by leveraging data from students (N = 462) who did and did not enroll in the Boston Public Schools (BPS) prekindergarten…

This study examines whether associations between enrollment in public and non-public PreK and children's (N = 508; M[subscript age] = 5.60 years in fall of kindergarten) math and language and literacy outcomes were more likely to be sustained through the spring of kindergarten for unconstrained versus constrained skills. Associations between…

Currently available measures of PreK classroom quality inconsistently predict gains in children's outcomes. Extant measures may not capture the full range of instructional practices--including the degree to which children are exposed to rich content and cognitively demanding instruction--that are important for supporting the development of early…