Preschool Children's Developmental Outcomes in the Face of COVID-19 School Closures

Project Summary One of the most concerning aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is its disruption of school, particularly for younger children. Nearly every U.S. jurisdiction ordered or recommended the closings of schools by March 29th which meant that children spent nearly one third of their academic year at home. Informed by a body of literature on lack of schooling continuity drawn from natural disasters and summer break, educators and child development experts have predicted that COVID-related school closures will likely lead to learning loss and declines in social-emotional and executive functioning for children of all ages. However, previous research on natural disasters and summer break has focused exclusively on the K-12 and college-aged populations. Research on how preschool-aged children's developmental outcomes are affected by prolonged time out of school is surprisingly absent. However, by virtue of their being situated in a stage of rapid brain growth, preschool-aged children may be particularly susceptible to disruptions to their schooling experiences. Understanding the extent of academic, social-emotional, and executive functioning loss from preschool closures is therefore an important component for developing interventions that can mitigate loss in developmental outcomes and for informing school re-opening plans. We propose to address these crucial issues by addressing the following research questions. 1. How do the achievement, social-emotional, and executive functioning outcomes of preschool children who were subjected to COVID-19 related preschool closures compare to prior cohorts of children who were not subjected to preschool closures? Do the results differ for lower-income or Hispanic children? 2. How do parents' and children's level of coping and home learning supports during preschool closures moderate children's achievement, social-emotional, and executive functioning outcomes?