Giving Compass' Take:

• Two studies demonstrate positive results for achievement gaps within economically integrated pre-k classrooms. 

• Will more pre-k classes incorporate socioeconomic diversity? What are some challenges in making this a reality?

•  Read the Giving Compass Literacy Guide for donors. 

Two studies suggest that bringing together children from low- and higher-income families in early childhood settings — an arrangement that rarely happens — could help bridge achievement gaps.

The benefits of socioeconomic integration is well documented among school-aged children, but it is just beginning to be explored among the preschool and younger set — in part because child care in the United States tends to be divided along class lines. Yet some research suggests that the same promise exists for the youngest students as it does when older children are integrated by family wealth.

One study in Connecticut found that children from low-income families in economically integrated preschool demonstrated much larger language growth than their counterparts in classes primarily composed of children from low-income backgrounds.

A larger study from the National Center for Children and Families at Columbia University looked at data from 11 prekindergarten programs and found that children in classrooms with, on average, a higher socioeconomic status generally learned more than those in classrooms made up primarily of children from low-income backgrounds — an association that held true regardless of a child’s own background.

This study, which controlled for factors such as teaching quality, discovered that all children can benefit from socioeconomically diverse classes. Children in relatively high-wealth classrooms that had some socioeconomic diversity fared better in gaining skills related to understanding language than those in high socioeconomic classrooms with little income diversity.

Read the full article about how economically diverse pre-K classrooms are beneficial to all kids by Kendra Hurley at Chalkbeat.