Zhai Fuhua, Waldfogel Jane, Brooks-Gunn Jeanne
State University of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare, L2-093 Health Sciences Center, Stony Brook, NY 11794.
J Soc Serv Res. 2013;39(3):345-364. doi: 10.1080/01488376.2013.770814.
Child care programs (including Head Start, pre-Kindergarten [pre-K], and other center-based care) can differ, with patterns of use based on their location. Yet little research has examined how Head Start and pre-K programs affect children's academic school readiness, including vocabulary and reading skills at school entry, in the South as compared to other regions. To examine this further, secondary data (n = 2,803) collected in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study were examined. Overall findings suggest, regardless of region, that Head Start and pre-K participants had higher academic skills at school entry than their counterparts. In addition, when Head Start was compared to other center-based care and pre-K was compared to other care arrangements, both had larger effects on improving academic skills in the South than in other regions. These findings imply that Head Start and pre-K programs should target children who otherwise would receive non-parental non-center-based care. Future research should focus on why the effects of Head Start and pre-K vary between the South and other regions.
儿童保育项目（包括“启智计划”、学前班[Pre-K]以及其他基于中心的照料服务）可能存在差异，其使用模式因地点而异。然而，与其他地区相比，很少有研究考察“启智计划”和学前班项目如何影响儿童入学时的学业准备情况，包括入学时的词汇量和阅读技能。为了进一步研究这一问题，我们对“脆弱家庭与儿童福祉研究”中收集的二手数据（n = 2,803）进行了分析。总体研究结果表明，无论地区如何，参与“启智计划”和学前班项目的儿童在入学时的学业技能都高于未参与者。此外，将“启智计划”与其他基于中心的照料服务进行比较，以及将学前班与其他照料安排进行比较时，二者在南方地区对提高学业技能的影响都比其他地区更大。这些研究结果表明，“启智计划”和学前班项目应针对那些原本会接受非父母提供的非中心照料服务的儿童。未来的研究应聚焦于为何“启智计划”和学前班项目在南方地区与其他地区的效果存在差异。
