Gain From Early Home Learning

The positive effects of a rich home learning environment during a child's early years continue into adolescence and help improve test scores later in life, according to a new study published in School Effectiveness and School Improvement.

This research shows pre-schoolers whose parents regularly read and talked about books with them scored better on Math tests at age 12. The study provided details on the importance of early years of home learning on children's development up to early adolescence.

Researchers studied 229 German children from age three until secondary school and participants' literacy and numeracy skills were tested annually in their three years of preschool (ages 3-5), and again when they were 12 or 13 years old.

They found that children gained from home stimulation in their pre-school years in literacy, language and arithmetic skills which, in turn, led to higher outcomes in reading and mathematical skills in secondary school.