The present study examined to what extent children's enrollment in Head Start and public Pre-Kindergarten (PreK) is associated with their absenteeism from kindergarten to fifth grade. Using a cohort of kindergarteners (5-years-old) in the Baltimore City Public Schools District (n = 7,447), Head Start and Pre-K enrollment and school attendance records were analyzed. About half of students were male (51 %), 80 % of students were Black, non-Hispanic, 9 % were White, non-Hispanic, 9 % were Hispanic, and 2 % identified as “Other” racial categories. Results indicated that children who were enrolled in Head Start or Pre-K had lower absence rates during the kindergarten year compared to those who were not enrolled in these ECE settings; the effect size was small to medium after controlling for child demographic factors and neighborhood characteristics. One of the neighborhood characteristics, measured by the Child Opportunity Index, was significantly and negatively associated with school absence rates with a small effect size. In addition, the gap in school attendance between the Head Start/PreK participants and non-Head Start/PreK participants persisted over time up to fifth grade without fading out. The findings suggest that it is critical to provide extended opportunities for children with socioeconomic challenges to access ECE programs prior to their schooling.

中文翻译：

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Head Start 或公立学前班的入学重要吗？巴尔的摩市儿童长期上学率的关联


本研究考察了儿童参加 Head Start 和公立学前班 （PreK） 的入学率与他们从幼儿园到五年级的缺勤程度有多大关系。使用巴尔的摩市公立学校区 （n = 7,447） 的一组幼儿园儿童（5 岁），分析了 Head Start 和 Pre-K 入学率以及学校出勤记录。大约一半的学生是男性 （51%），80% 的学生是黑人，非西班牙裔，9% 是白人，非西班牙裔，9% 是西班牙裔，2% 被确定为“其他”种族类别。结果表明，与未参加这些 ECE 环境的儿童相比，参加 Head Start 或 Pre-K 的儿童在幼儿园期间的缺勤率较低;在控制了儿童人口因素和邻里特征后，效应量为中小。由儿童机会指数衡量的邻里特征之一与缺勤率呈显著负相关，效应量较小。此外，Head Start/PreK 参与者和非 Head Start/PreK 参与者之间的学校出勤率差距随着时间的推移一直持续到五年级，并且没有消失。研究结果表明，为有社会经济挑战的儿童提供更多机会，让他们在上学前参加 ECE 计划至关重要。