Early home learning environment predicts children's 5th grade academic skills
ABSTRACT We examined whether the early learning environment predicts children's 5th grade skills in 2,204 families from ethnically diverse, low income backgrounds; tested the mediating roles of children's pre kindergarten school related skills and later learning environment; and asked whether lagged associations generalize across White, Black, Hispanic English speaking, and Hispanic Spanish speaking samples. Children's early learning environment comprised measures of literacy activities, the quality of mothers' engagements with children, and learning materials assessed at 14 months, 2 and 3 years, and at pre kindergarten; learning environments were again assessed in 5th grade. At pre kindergarten and in 5th grade, children were assessed on pre academic and academic skills respectively. Early learning environments predicted children's 5th grade academic skills, and children's pre kindergarten skills and 5th grade learning environment mediated longitudinal associations. The early learning environment supports the emergence of pre academic skills that are stable into early adolescence, and pathways generalize across ethnic/racial groups.