Project Activities
Researchers will use secondary data sources to explore the links between family and community characteristics, preschool enrollment, and school readiness for Mexican immigrant children. They will examine how enrollment is influenced by factors such as family need for early childhood services, family resources, cultural norms and preferences, and contextual opportunities and constraints in the community.
Structured Abstract
Setting
Researchers will draw data from three extant datasets, the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), the community-based Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), and qualitative and observational data from the public pre-K program in the Austin Independent School District (AISD).
Sample
The ECLS-B dataset includes a nationally representative sample of children born in 2001. Approximately 6,200 children participated in four waves of data collection through kindergarten, 1,416 of whom were children of first or second generation Mexican-origin parents. The PHDCN dataset includes three waves of home interviews over six years with families sampled from 80 diverse Chicago neighborhoods, including 2,269 children (800 of whom were children of first or second generation Mexican-origin parents) who were 6 months or 3 years old in 1995. In 2011-2012, 64 pre-K and kindergarten classrooms (two-thirds bilingual) in ten AISD elementary schools were observed. Researchers conducted interviews with teachers in each classroom (50% White) and held five focus groups with 30 Mexican-origin mothers.
Intervention
There is no intervention in this project.
Research design and methods
Researchers will use secondary data to address two primary objectives: (1) to provide a quantitative estimate of the links among family and community selection mechanisms, preschool enrollment, and school readiness with special attention to diversity by acculturation, and (2) to examine Mexican immigrant parents' motivations for enrolling children in preschool and teachers' perceptions of such motivations using qualitative data from the AISD data set. The focal family/community selection mechanisms will include: necessity (i.e., needing preschool as child care); human capital considerations (i.e., viewing preschool as a support for children's future educational pathways); systemic connections (i.e., social networks and institutional programs within the community raising awareness of and access to preschool opportunities); and child elicitation (i.e., special skills or concerns increasing parents' or others' perceptions that children need preschool). In year 1, they will use ECLS-B and PHDCN data to examine different selection factors and associations with enrollment and children's school readiness skills. In year 2, they will code qualitative data from the AISD data and examine family-related processes that may influence preschool selection and enrollment decisions.
Control condition
Due to the nature of the research design, there is no control condition.
Key measures
The ECLS-B data set includes parent report of preschool enrollment, teacher report of children's preschool language, the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R), a measure of classroom quality, and standardized measures of children's school readiness. The PHDCN data set includes parent reports, census data, and a community survey measure of family and community selection mechanisms. The AISD data set includes interviews, classroom observations conducted with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS), and for dual language classrooms, the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP).
Data analytic strategy
For the ECLS-B and PHDCN data sources, the researchers will use multi-level modeling in Mplus to examine selection mechanisms that are associated with preschool enrollment and children's school readiness skills. For the qualitative AISD data, the researchers will code transcripts and use the codes to create new variables to include in quantitative analyses, such as looking at possible moderators of associations between selection mechanisms, preschool enrollment, and child outcomes.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
Products: The products of this project include preliminary evidence of potentially promising strategies and policies to increase Mexican immigrant children's enrollment in high quality preschool programs that may improve their school readiness skills. Researchers will also produce peer-reviewed publications.
Book Chapter
Ansari, A. and Crosnoe, R. (2018). The Transition into Kindergarten for English Language Learners. In A. Mashburn, J. LoCasale-Crouch, and K. Pears. (Eds.), In Welcome to Kindergarten! Describing, Explaining, and Promoting Children's Positive Transitions to School. Springer, Cham.
Shuey, E. A., & Leventhal, T. (2021). Neighborhood Experiences of Immigrant Families with Young Children in the United States. In Conceptual and Methodological Approaches to Navigating Immigrant Ecologies (pp. 219-238). Springer, Cham. Full Text
Journal article, monograph, or newsletter
Ackert, E. (2017). Determinants of Mexican-Origin Dropout: The Roles of Mexican Latino/a Destinations and Immigrant Generation. Population Research and Policy Review, 36(3), 379-414.
Ackert, E. (2017). Segregation Paradox? School Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Composition and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Engagement. Social Science Research, 70: 144-162.
Ackert, E., Ressler, R., Ansari, A., & Crosnoe, R. (2018). Maternal Employment, Community Contexts, and the Child-Care Arrangements of Diverse Groups. Journal of Marriage and Family, 80(5), 1210-1224. Full Text
Ansari, A. (2017). The Selection of Preschool for Immigrant and Native-Born Latino Families in the United States. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 41 (4), 149-160. Full Text
Ansari, A. (2018). The Persistence of Preschool Effects from Early Childhood Through Adolescence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 110(7), 952-973. Full Text
Ansari, A., Pivnick, L. K., Gershoff, E. T., Crosnoe, R., & Orozco-Lapray, D. (2018). What do parents want from preschool? Perspectives of low-income Latino/a immigrant families. Early childhood research quarterly, 52(A), 38-48. Full Text
Crosnoe, R., Purtell, K.M., Davis-Kean, P., Ansari, A., and Benner, A.D. (2016). The Selection of Children From Low-Income Families into Preschool. Developmental Psychology, 52(4): 599-612.
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigator: Tama Leventhal (Tufts University)
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
