ERIC Number: ED662198
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 125
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-3844-3133-6
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Neighborhood Socioeconomic Conditions and Children's Early Academic and Social-Emotional Development: Kindergarten School Quality as a Potential Pathway
Fei Tan
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Tufts University
Significant socioeconomic disparities exist across the neighborhoods where children grow up today, which may exacerbate inequities in children's educational opportunities (Leventhal et al., 2015; Leventhal & Dupere, 2019; Mijs & Roe, 2021; Reardon et al., 2018). Prior research documents associations between neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) and children's academic and social-emotional development (Leventhal & Dupere, 2019; Sharkey & Faber, 2014); however, the pathways through which neighborhood SES contributes to children's development remain unclear. A deeper understanding of these pathways is crucial for informing interventions aimed at promoting children's development via-a-vis their neighborhoods. This dissertation explores how the quality of schools (i.e., structural quality and teacher-child relationships) during kindergarten may serve as a pathway linking neighborhood SES and young children's early academic achievement (i.e., math and reading scores) and social-emotional functioning (i.e., self-control, interpersonal skills, externalizing and internalizing behaviors) in first grade. To answer this question, I used a national sample of 17,580 children (51% girls, M[subscript age] [approximately] 5.5 years old, 49% White, 25% Hispanic or Latino, 14% Black, and 9% Asian or Pacific Islander) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study 2010/2011, and a mediation method under the potential outcome framework (Imai et al., 2011). Results suggest neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage (i.e., % residents live in poverty, % public assistance recipients, % single-parent families, and % unemployed), rather than advantage (i.e., % high-income households, % BA+ residents, and % professionals or managers), contributed to educational inequities in children's academic outcomes during the early school years, but this association was not mediated by school quality indicators. In addition, neighborhood SES was not associated with children's early social-emotional development, and again, there was no mediation through the school quality indicators. Implications of these results for understanding the interplay between neighborhoods and schools in relation to children's academic and social-emotional development are discussed, along with future directions for research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Neighborhoods, Socioeconomic Status, Educational Quality, Kindergarten, Academic Achievement, Grade 1, Achievement Gap, Correlation, Social Development, Emotional Development, Child Behavior, Teacher Student Relationship, Educational Facilities
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education; Kindergarten; Primary Education; Grade 1
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A