Literacy-related school readiness skills of English language learners in Head Start: An analysis of the school readiness survey

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of Head Start on early literacy skills relevant to school readiness of English language learners compared to their peers. The comparisons of literacy outcomes were conducted between English language learners and non-English language learners when both groups participated and were not in Head Start. A total of 47 covariates were involved in propensity score analysis, and average treatment effects for the treated individuals were used to estimate the literacy outcome differences from the comparisons. The results indicated that early literacy outcomes of English language learners and non-English language learners were significantly different in recognizing alphabetic letters and rhyming words regardless of whether or not both English language learners and non-English language learners attend in Head Start. Being in Head Start did not contribute to reducing the gap between English language learners and non-English language learners. Finally, the limitations of this study and future directions for research and practice are discussed.