Starting Early - The Benefits of Attending Early Childhood Education Programs at Age 3

Oct 15, 2026

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Study of short-term effects of early childhood education participation at age 3 for 1,213 children from low-income families in a large, linguistically diverse county. The analysis finds no advantages for executive functioning, while children attending formal programs at age 3 show stronger entry into prekindergarten, improved academic skills, and more favorable early social behavior. Benefits, however, do not persist through the end of pre-K due to catch-up by nonattendees, with later classroom experiences explaining about one quarter of academic convergence.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages29

Reading Time1 h 13 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Study scope and motivation

Methods and sample

Participants and context

Findings

Executive functioning and short-term academic effects

Convergence and persistence through pre-K

American Educational Research Journal August 2019, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 1495–1523 DOI: 10.3102/0002831218817737 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions) 􀀂 2019 AERA. [http://aerj](http://aerj).[aera.net](aera.net) Starting Early: The Benefits of Attending Early Childhood Education Programs at Age 3 Arya Ansari Robert C. Pianta Jessica V. Whittaker Virginia E. Vitiello Erik A. Ruzek University of Virginia This investigation considered the short-term benefits of early childhood education participation at age 3 for 1,213 children from low-income families living in a large and linguistically diverse county. Although no benefits emerged for executive functioning, children who participated in formal early childhood programs at the age of 3 entered prekindergarten the ARYA ANSARI, PhD, is a postdoctoral research associate in the Center for Advanced Study for Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia, 405 Emmet Street South, Charlottesville, VA 22904; e-mail: [aa2zz@virginia.edu](aa2zz@virginia.edu. His)[. His](aa2zz@virginia.edu. His) research focuses on understanding how contextual factors influence the early learning and development of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, with the aim of informing policies and intervention programs that can benefit such children. ROBERT C. PIANTA, PhD, is Dean of the Curry School of Education and Human Development and the Novartis U.S. Foundation Professor of Education at the University of Virginia. His research and policy interests focus on the measurement and improvement of teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom. JESSICA V. WHITTAKER, PhD, is an assistant research professor at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia. Her research is focused on examining the association between early teacher-child interactions and children’s academic and social-emotional outcomes, particularly for those from underserved and underrepresented groups. VIRGINIA E. VITIELLO, PhD, is a research assistant professor at the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and Human Development. She is a developmental psychologist with an interest in applied research in child care and school-based settings. Her research focuses on how classroom settings shape young children’s engagement and learning. ERIK A. RUZEK, PhD, is a research assistant professor at the Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, University of Virginia. His research illuminates the classroom processes that promote student engagement, motivation, and learning, with a special interest in understanding the predictors and consequences of students’ perceived experiences in classrooms. Ansari et al. following year demonstrating stronger academic skills and less optimal social behavior than their peers with no earlier educational experience. However, these academic benefits were short-lived and did not persist through the end of prekindergarten, in large part because children who did not attend these programs at age 3 caught up with their classmates who did. Roughly a quarter of this convergence in academics was attributed to children’s subsequent classroom experiences. KEYWORDS: convergence; early childhood education; informal care; persistence ith mounting evidence that high quality early childhood education Wet al,(2E0CE17;) progYoshirkaamwsa hetelpal , pre201p3a)r, epchubillidcrfeunndfionrg schforoEoClE(Phhailslispesen, Laipraseypid, increase, with most state programs providing 1 year of public ECE for 4-yearolds (Friedman-Krauss et al., 2018) . In many locations, increased access to public ECE programs has not been limited to 4-year-olds, with programs enrolling younger children also. As a result, there has been a rise in ECE enrollment rates among 3-year-olds, such that many children today participate in ECE for multiple years before entering kindergarten (e.g. , Aikens, Klein, Tarullo, &

FAQs

How many children and what population were studied?

The study analyzed 1,213 children from low-income families in a large county characterized by linguistic diversity.

Did attending early childhood education at age 3 improve executive functioning?

No. The study reports no benefits emerging for executive functioning.

Why did the academic benefits not persist through the end of pre-K?

Nonattending children caught up with their peers by the end of prekindergarten, and subsequent classroom experiences accounted for roughly one quarter of the academic convergence.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford