Home and preschool learning environments and their relations to the development of early numeracy skills

Abstract

This study examined the influence of the quality of home and preschool learning environments on the development of early numeracy skills in Germany, drawing on a sample of 532 children in 97 preschools. Latent growth curve models were used to investigate early numeracy skills and their development from the first (average age: 3 years) to the third year (average age: 5 years) of preschool. Several child and family background factors (e.g., gender, maternal education, socioeconomic status), measures of the home learning environment (e.g., literacy- and numeracy-related activities), and measures of preschool structural and process quality (e.g., ECERS-E, ECERS-R) were tested as predictors of numeracy skills and their development. The analyses identified child and family background factors that predicted numeracy skills in the first year of preschool and their development over the three points of measurement—particularly gender, parental native language status (German/other), socioeconomic status, and mother's educational level. The quality of the home learning environment was strongly associated with numeracy skills in the first year of preschool, and this advantage was maintained at later ages. In contrast, the process quality of the preschool was not related to numeracy skills at the first measurement, but was significantly related to development over the period observed. The results underline the differential impact of the two learning environments on the development of numeracy skills. Interaction effects are explored and discussed.

Introduction

It is well documented that children entering elementary school differ in their language, pre-reading, and early numeracy skills and that these differences are often maintained at later ages (e.g., Dornheim, 2008, Dubowy et al., 2008, Magnuson et al., 2004, NICHD ECCRN, 2002a, NICHD ECCRN, 2005, Sammons et al., 2004, Tymms et al., 1997, Weinert et al., 2010). Promoting school readiness and better adjustment to school is hypothesized to be an efficient means of raising the achievement levels of all children, but especially of those children who experience a lack of parental support. It has been argued that investing in early education programs will have large long-term monetary and nonmonetary benefits (Heckman, 2006, Knudsen et al., 2006). These expectations have led to increased state and federal support for early education programs in Germany, and strategies have recently been implemented to foster the promotion of emerging (pre)academic skills such as language skills, numeracy, and scientific thinking at preschool. To date, however, empirical evidence on the effects of preschool education in Germany is limited (Rossbach, Kluczniok, & Kuger, 2008).

Of course, children's cognitive development and educational careers are also influenced by characteristics of the family and home learning environment (e.g., ECCE, 1999, Melhuish et al., 2008, Sirin, 2005, Taylor et al., 2004). Consequently, studies evaluating the potential benefits of early years education programs need to examine the influences of the home and preschool learning environments simultaneously. This article investigates how the two environments interact in shaping the development of early numeracy skills in preschool-age children in Germany. Research conducted in other European countries and in the United States has highlighted the potential benefits of early years education programs for children's cognitive development for some years now (ECCE, 1999, NICHD ECCRN, 2002a, NICHD ECCRN, 2005, Sammons et al., 2004). However, emerging numeracy has received less research attention than has emerging literacy, especially with respect to the nature and effects of the home learning environment. Yet emerging numeracy is seen as one of the most significant predictors of later school success in mathematics. The present study also offers the possibility to explore how findings from a German sample reflect previous results from other countries and to identify indicators of good practice that are independent of the national context.

In the following, we first outline the available research on the characteristics and impact of the early years home learning environment and of preschool experience. We then identify the research desiderata that are addressed in the present study. Finally, we describe the study framework and formulate our research questions.

The quality of the home learning environment is related to the availability of educational resources, such as books, and the nature of parenting activities, such as reading to the child, using complex language, playing with numbers, counting, and taking the child to the library (e.g., Hart and Risley, 1995, Melhuish et al., 2008, Snow and Van Hemel, 2008). Studies exploring the nature and variation of early years home learning environments have found high variation between families. Structural characteristics, such as family composition, housing, and income, as well as parental educational beliefs and expectations also impact the quality of the home learning environment (e.g., Bornstein and Bradley, 2008, Dowsett et al., 2008, Tietze et al., 2005). Specifically, results indicate that low socioeconomic status (SES) and low parental education are moderately associated with low quality of the home learning environment (Bornstein and Bradley, 2008, Foster et al., 2005, Melhuish et al., 2008, Totsika and Sylva, 2004). Son and Morrison (2010) recently investigated the stability of the home environment as children approach school entry. On the one hand, their results indicated that the quality of the home environment at age 36 months was highly correlated with the quality of the home environment at age 54 months. On the other hand, they found that home environments are also subject to change and seem to improve as children approach school entry.

Numerous studies using different measures of the home learning environment have shown that it has a considerable influence on young children's cognitive development and educational outcomes. For example, quality of the home environment as measured by the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory (HOME; Caldwell & Bradley, 1984) has been found to correlate with outcomes including general cognitive ability and language (Son and Morrison, 2010, Totsika and Sylva, 2004). Other indicators of the home learning environment associated with better cognitive outcomes are quality of dialogic reading (Whitehurst & Lonigan, 1998), use of complex language (Hart & Risley, 1995), responsiveness and warmth in interactions (Bradley, 2002), and library visits (Griffin and Morrison, 1997, Melhuish et al., 2008). With respect to the development of early numeracy skills, the overall quality of the home learning environment (Blevins-Knabe, Whiteside-Mansell, & Selig, 2007) as well as mathematical activities such as counting or identifying shapes (Blevins-Knabe & Musun-Miller, 1996) have been shown to influence children's mathematical development. These findings are supported by other studies showing that parents of preschoolers can successfully provide their children with specific opportunities to use and extend their early numeracy concepts and skills (Jacobs et al., 2005, LeFevre et al., 2002, LeFevre et al., 2009).

Conceptualizations of the quality of the preschool learning environment cover multiple dimensions and relate to structural characteristics (e.g., class size, staff qualification levels), teachers’ beliefs and orientations with respect to learning processes, and the process quality of the interactions between teachers and children (NICHD ECCRN, 2002b, Pianta et al., 2005). Process quality involves global aspects such as child-appropriate behavior and warm climate (Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 1998) as well as domain-specific stimulation in areas such as verbal and (pre)reading literacy, numeracy, and scientific literacy (Kuger and Kluczniok, 2008, Sylva et al., 2003). Research has provided insights into variation in preschool quality. Not only are differences across individual preschools or types of preschool settings large, but the legal framework varies greatly across countries and federal states (Cryer et al., 1999, Early et al., 2007, ECCE, 1999, Sylva, 2010). Additionally, it has been shown that the level of process quality is associated with structural characteristics of the preschool setting and class (Early et al., 2010, Pianta et al., 2005, Tietze et al., 1998). Drawing on a German sample of preschools, Kuger and Kluczniok (2008) showed that different aspects of process quality (climate, promotion of literacy and numeracy) were related to the average age of the children in the class and to the proportion of children with a native language other than German.

Large-scale longitudinal studies have produced accumulating evidence for beneficial effects of preschool education on students’ cognitive development and outcomes (e.g., Belsky et al., 2007, ECCE, 1999, NICHD ECCRN, 2003, NICHD ECCRN, 2005, Peisner-Feinberg et al., 2001, Sylva et al., 2004). Whereas the evidence for short- and medium-term academic benefits of early education or preschool programs seems to be compelling, findings on longer-term benefits are mixed. It seems that the process quality of the preschool attended is a crucial factor in the magnitude and persistence of beneficial effects. Indeed, the effects of high-quality preschool education or intensive programs on cognitive skills have been shown to persist up to the ages of 8, 10, 11 or even 15 years (Anders et al., 2011, Belsky et al., 2007, ECCE, 1999, Gorey, 2001, Peisner-Feinberg et al., 2001, Sammons et al., 2008b, Vandell et al., 2010).

It is accepted that the effects of preschool education can be reliably evaluated only if family and home characteristics are considered at the same time. Whereas older studies tended to control for socioeconomic and family background characteristics without investigating the distinct influence of the home learning environment on development, recent studies have examined the influence of both factors (e.g., Melhuish, 2010, NICHD ECCRN, 2006). Nevertheless, few studies have yet explicitly analyzed the interactive effects of the two environments, although the potential benefits of the amount and quality of preschool education may depend on the quality of the home learning environment and vice versa. The findings of Burchinal, Peisner-Feinberg, Pianta, and Howes (2002) indicate that maternal education, parents’ caregiving practices, and parents’ attitudes are the strongest predictors of child outcomes, even among those children who experience full-time nonmaternal childcare. Adi-Japha and Klein (2009) examined the associations of parenting quality with cognitive outcomes such as receptive language and school readiness among children experiencing varying amounts of childcare. They found stronger associations among children who experienced medium amounts of childcare than among those who experienced high amounts of childcare. However, the associations were not weaker among children who experienced primarily maternal care. The findings of Brooks-Gunn, Han, and Waldfogel (2010) indicate that maternal employment during the first year of life may be associated with the amount of childcare, but may also be positively related to the quality of the childcare and home environments.

Findings on interactive effects of childcare quality and quality of the home learning environment are mixed. Summarizing its results, the NICHD study group (NICHD ECCRN, 2006) stated, “we do not see a consistent pattern suggesting more optimal outcomes associated with childcare for the lowest parenting quartile or less optimal outcomes associated with childcare for the highest parenting quartile” (p. 110). Bryant, Burchinal, Lau, and Sparling (1994) found positive effects of classroom quality on cognitive outcomes, with children from stimulating home environments seeming to benefit even more from high-quality preschool than children from less stimulating homes. In contrast, after analyzing the combined effects of preschool experience and home learning environment on cognitive outcomes at age 10, Sammons, Anders, et al. (2008) concluded that the quality of the home learning environment is especially important for children who are not in preschool or who attend low-quality or low-effective preschools. In turn, the quality and effectiveness of the preschool setting is critical for children's learning progress, especially when they receive little cognitive stimulation at home. Hence, the few studies examining interactive or compensatory effects of home and preschool learning environments on children's cognitive development have produced an inconsistent pattern of results.

This study addresses research questions and methodological issues that have received little attention in existing empirical research. Its first focus is on the domain specificity of cognitive stimulation in home and preschool settings. Specifically, numeracy involves other facets of knowledge than does verbal and (pre)reading literacy (e.g., numbers and quantities as opposed to letters and sounds). It seems reasonable to assume that numeracy-related activities and stimulation, such as counting or teaching numbers, are especially beneficial for the development of numeracy skills. However, language skills and general cognitive mechanisms relevant for the acquisition of (pre)reading literacy may also foster early numeracy skills (e.g., Aiken, 1972). For example, children need both linguistic competence and domain-general skills such as logical thinking to take advantage of instruction. Thus, verbal and (pre)reading-related activities and stimulation may also foster the development of numeracy skills. In any case, it seems necessary to disentangle the effects of the two domains.

Indeed, established concepts and measures of the process quality of preschool distinguish between learning opportunities for emerging reading literacy and numeracy (Kuger and Kluczniok, 2008, Sylva et al., 2003). When investigating the impact of process quality on children's cognitive outcomes, however, researchers often use global quality indicators rather than distinguishing the two domains. Most definitions of the early years home learning environment either focus on verbal and (pre)reading-related activities and resources (e.g., Griffin and Morrison, 1997, Leseman et al., 2007, Neuman et al., 2000) or do not differentiate between activities promoting verbal literacy or numeracy (e.g., Adi-Japha and Klein, 2009, Bryant et al., 1994, Burchinal et al., 2002, Melhuish et al., 2008). Comparatively few studies have focused exclusively on numeracy-related activities in the family and their relations to numeracy skills or mathematics achievement (e.g., Blevins-Knabe and Musun-Miller, 1996, LeFevre et al., 2009, Starkey et al., 2004, Tudge and Doucet, 2004). In this study, we distinguish between the two domains and demonstrate the value of such an approach.

An important methodological challenge relates to the age of the children at entry to preschool and to the study. By the time children enter preschool (e.g., at age 3 years), various factors—especially the home learning environment—may already have influenced their cognitive development for some time, and the differences in competencies and skills associated with the home learning environment may be maintained throughout the preschool period. Additionally, researchers are often only able to begin recruiting children at entry to preschool, meaning that children have been in preschool for several months before their cognitive skills are measured for the first time. Thus, some of the variation in the baseline assessment may be a result of preschool experience and its quality. The possible impact of children's previous experiences on the baseline measure is often disregarded in the choice of statistical methods and the discussion of findings; this may result in the underestimation and undervaluation of the effects of the home learning environment or preschool experience.

Third, the few existing findings on the interactive effects of home and preschool learning environments reveal the need for more studies examining these complex relations in depth. The present study was designed to contribute to a better understanding of how home and preschool learning environments are related to the development of early numeracy skills, addressing all of the points mentioned above.

This study is part of the longitudinal BiKS project on Educational Processes, Competence Development, and Selection Decisions at Pre- and Elementary School Age (German: Bildungsprozesse, Kompetenzentwicklung und Selektionsentscheidungen im Vor- und Grundschulalter), which was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The BiKS 3–10 substudy tracks the development of 547 children attending 97 preschools in two German federal states (Bavaria and Hesse) since 2005. Preschool is voluntary in Germany, and most preschoolers start at the age of 3 years. Unlike preschool settings in many other countries, children are often placed in mixed-age classes. Thus, the age of children within one class often ranges between 3 and 6 years. BiKS 3–10 has collected a wide range of data on the children, their family background, and the preschools they attended, making it possible to investigate the children's cognitive development, the influences of family background and preschool, and the formation of educational decisions (Schmidt et al., 2009, von Maurice et al., 2007). In particular, the study aimed to provide a complete picture of children's learning environments at preschool age. Whereas most previous studies have assessed the home learning environment solely by means of parental questionnaires and interviews focusing on resources and parental activities promoting early literacy, BiKS combined interviews and questionnaires with observations in the families and distinguished between resources and activities related to verbal or (pre)reading literacy, on the one hand, and numeracy, on the other. A repeated measurement design was implemented for home and preschool characteristics as well as for the outcome measures. BiKS thus goes far beyond previous studies (ECCE Study Group, 1999) on educational careers and their influencing factors in this age range in Germany.

In the present investigation, we explore early numeracy skills and growth in this cognitive domain over two years of preschool (age 3–5 years), addressing five research questions. First, we seek to identify the influence of several child and family background factors (e.g., gender, SES, maternal education) on developmental progress. Second, we examine the influence of different aspects of the home learning environment (quality of stimulation in numeracy and [pre]reading literacy) on development. Third, we test the power of measures of preschool experience (structural and process quality characteristics in different domains) to predict the development of numeracy skills. Fourth, we investigate whether the effect of preschool quality on baseline achievement level and growth depends on the amount of time the child has spent in that preschool at study entry. Finally, it examines whether the effect of preschool process quality is the same among children exposed to home learning environments of different qualities.