Preschool children with relatively poor language skills improve when they’re placed in kindergarten classrooms with high-achieving students, according to a new study published in the journal Child Development.
Researchers found that children with poor language skills either didn’t improve over the course of one academic year, or actually lost ground in development of language skills, when they were placed with other low-achieving students.
The study involved 338 children enrolled in 49 preschool classrooms. The children were tested on language skills in the autumn, and then again in the spring, giving researchers a measure of their improvement over the year. The test looked at the children’s grammar skills, vocabulary and ability to discuss what was happening in a wordless picture book.
Results showed that children with low initial language skills who were placed in the lowest-ability classes tended to lose ground over the course of the academic year. However, low-skilled students in average-ability classes improved their language skills between fall and spring.
The results suggest that "tracking" students into high and low achievement classrooms may be short-changing the students who most need help.
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