The sustaining environments hypothesis theorizes that the lasting effects of PreK programs are contingent on the quality of the subsequent learning environment in early elementary school. The current study tests this theory by leveraging data from students (N = 462) who did and did not enroll in the Boston Public Schools (BPS) prekindergarten (PreK) program as well as features of their kindergarten instruction measured at the child- and classroom-levels using surveys and observations. Taken together, findings revealed limited evidence for the sustaining environments hypothesis. The bulk of the results were null, indicating that in general, associations between enrollment in BPS PreK and language, literacy, and math skills through the spring of kindergarten did not vary by kindergarten instructional experiences. When examining distinct types of instructional experiences, there were some inklings that child-level observational measures of kindergarten learning experiences-particularly those capturing constrained versus unconstrained instruction-were more predictive of PreK persistence than observed global classroom quality measures or survey-based measures of advanced instruction. However, these associations were not always specific to outcomes matching the content delivered during this instruction (math vs. literacy), consistent with the possibility of either cross-domain effects or that instructional variables are proxies for more general instructional practices. Findings for future research and theory are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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幼儿园教学对于维持学前班 (PreK) 的提升是否重要？来自个人和课堂层面的调查和观察数据的证据。

维持环境假说认为，PreK 项目的持久影响取决于小学早期学习环境的质量。目前的研究通过利用参加和未参加波士顿公立学校 (BPS) 学前班 (PreK) 计划的学生 (N = 462) 的数据以及在儿童和课堂上测量的幼儿园教学特征来检验这一理论- 使用调查和观察的水平。综上所述，研究结果揭示了维持环境假说的有限证据。大部分结果是无效的，这表明一般来说，幼儿园春季入学 BPS PreK 与语言、识字和数学技能之间的关联并没有因幼儿园教学经验而异。在检查不同类型的教学经验时，有一些迹象表明，对幼儿园学习经验的儿童水平观察测量——尤其是那些捕捉受限与非受限教学的观察测量——比观察到的全球课堂质量测量或基于调查的高级学习测量更能预测学前教育的持久性。操作说明。然而，这些关联并不总是特定于与本教学期间提供的内容相匹配的结果（数学与读写能力），这与跨领域效应或教学变量是更一般教学实践的代理的可能性一致。讨论了未来研究和理论的发现。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。有一些迹象表明，与观察到的全球课堂质量测量或基于调查的高级教学测量相比，儿童水平对幼儿园学习体验的观察测量——特别是那些捕捉受限与非受限教学的观察测量——更能预测 PreK 持久性。然而，这些关联并不总是特定于与本教学期间提供的内容相匹配的结果（数学与读写能力），这与跨领域效应或教学变量是更一般教学实践的代理的可能性一致。讨论了未来研究和理论的发现。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。有一些迹象表明，与观察到的全球课堂质量测量或基于调查的高级教学测量相比，儿童水平对幼儿园学习体验的观察测量——特别是那些捕捉受限与非受限教学的观察测量——更能预测 PreK 持久性。然而，这些关联并不总是特定于与本教学期间提供的内容相匹配的结果（数学与读写能力），这与跨领域效应或教学变量是更一般教学实践的代理的可能性一致。讨论了未来研究和理论的发现。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2022 APA，保留所有权利）。