Effects of Cognitive Education in Kindergarten On Learning to Read in the Primary Grades

Abstract

Although kindergarten curricula typically center on the teaching of “basic skills,” cognitive education programs that pursue the same goal have not been entirely successful at fostering reading, writing, and numbers skills. Previous research in our laboratory reinforced our confidence in the ability of cognitive early education to promote educability, especially in children of low socio-economic status. As a preventive measure, we gave the “Bright Start” program of cognitive early education to a group of children from a very low SES group during the kindergarten year, and assessed its effects on acquisition of reading competence through the first three grades, in comparison to a control group from the same social milieu and a control group of much more socially advantaged children. The results affirm once again the influence of the socio-economic environment on learning, and provide evidence that cognitive early education can promote reading acquisition and can compensate in very large measure for socio-economic differences.