A lot of pre-K education comes from daycare facilities and other methods where parents give their kids to others to care for. Take those kids and put them at home with parents who still have to work and you’ll probably see a dip in education levels.
Take those kids and put them at home with parents who still have to work and you’ll probably see a dip in education levels.
Still having to work, from home or otherwise (but mostly at home if we’re talking about the pandemic), and that would still leave most regular hours to be a parent (I.e. and read to your child).
I’d like to see stats and truly know what accounts for these drops. We already know that kids spent more time in front of screens during the pandemic (for entertainment, not education), but what about parents reading to their children. There should have been MORE time, not less, to do that.
I’d like to see stats and truly know what accounts for these drops.
The only way to get some sort of idea is with A/B testing, which is really hard to do during a pandemic. However, there is a body of evidence to suggest that being in daycare around 3+ helps with later success in schools: https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/06/quality-child-care-science-math
Also, you seem to point out to more time for parents to be able to read to kids if everyone works from home, but that may not be the case. WFH does seem to indicate that people work longer hours in total. They may also not be able to spend as much break time during the day to. Do things like read to their kids or otherwise mentally simulate them.
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2023/06/quality-child-care-science-math
The study looked at “Children who receive high-quality child care as babies, toddlers and preschoolers…”
So, is the drop in reading and math a direct result of kids not getting high-quality childcare as babies and toddlers? Because I don’t even think thay the majority of American parents ever had the means to make that happen outside of the home.
That might be something that only high income families could afford, but I’m not sure if the article reports on whether children from high income families also experienced a drop in reading and math scores.
WFH does seem to indicate that people work longer hours in total.
Without a daily commute or prep time getting ready for the office, and especially during lockdowns when people simply didn’t leave their homes, there was significantly more time for non-work related activities.
This is why so many people actually enjoyed the pandemic. They had significant amounts of free time for hobbies, exercise, etc. Bikes even sold out for like a year, because the demand for recreation cycling during the pandemic was at such a high level.
But time with your kids, even for 20 minutes of reading, offers a huge advantage to their development. This can easily be incorporated during bedtime.
In any case, I do still believe that a lack or reduction in reading at home has an impact on these scores, and I do appreciate the thoughtful discussion 🤝
