On the Effectiveness of Family Programs of Preschool Education in the Field of Literacy - Results of a meta-analysis

Early childhood conditions are considered important prerequisites of future cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Therefore, great hopes are pinned on systematic preschool education within the context of the family as the most important environment of children prior to their enrollment in school. The present contribution examines the effectiveness of family programs of preschool education in the field of literacy and enquires into the relation between characteristics of the programs or courses of studies and the effectiveness of the measures. The meta-analysis, which takes into account 15 studies carried out between 1990 and 2007, shows only weak effects of existing programs in the field of literacy Moderator analyses, in particular, point out that higher effects were reported above all in the case of methodologically less strict courses of studies. Possible reasons for the rather low effectiveness of the programs are discussed and desiderata for research in this field are outlined.