| Brenda Jarillo Rabling
Stanford University
Transition to Formal Schooling: Does Out-of-school Child Care matter?
This study aims to investigate out-of-school care programs, integrating research on the transition to kindergarten with research on racial and income disparities in learning and children's well-being. Participation in out-of-school programs has been understudied as a mechanism to smooth children's transition into formal schooling. Further, no evidence exists regarding the effectiveness of out-of-school programs as a means of combating the "fade-out" effect of early childhood interventions on achievement gaps at the kindergarten and first grade. Using the ECLS-K and ECLS-B studies and a propensity score matching technique, this study examines whether enrollment in out-of-school care programs during kindergarten differs across racial/ethnic groups and family income levels and whether the effect of enrollment in out-of-school programs varies by racial/ethnic group. This study also aims to assess the continuity in non-parental care over the transition to kindergarten, by examining whether the effects of out-of-school programs differ among children who attended center-based care versus those who did not participate in center-based care during the year prior to kindergarten. Finally, this study evaluates the differential dosage effects of care programs. Findings from the proposed study would shed light on the effectiveness of out-of-school programs as a transition practice aimed at partially closing the disadvantaged minority/low-income achievement gaps in the early years of primary education.
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