Access to this full-text is provided by Springer Nature.
Content available from Early Childhood Education Journal
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
Early Childhood Education Journal
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-025-01919-6
been disproportionally experienced by children from ethni-
cally, racially, and socioeconomically diverse populations
(Goyal et al., 2020). Through the last third of the 2019–2020
and the 2020–2021 academic school years, the pandemic
largely removed children from consistent in-person contact
with teachers and peers (Chen & Rivera-Vernazza, 2022).
Although schools are a source of access to necessary sup-
ports and services for preschool children who are living
in challenging environments or through stressful circum-
stances (Epstein et al., 2018; Richmond et al., 2020; Wong
et al., 2020), millions of young children experienced abrupt
disconnections from high-quality individual relationships
with preschool teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-
CoV-2; COVID-19) resulted in 1.2–1.6 billion children
experiencing long-term disruption to formal schooling
(USAID, 2020). The impact of the global pandemic has
Kristen L. Bub
kb30349@uga.edu
1 Department of Educational Psychology, Mary Frances Early
College of Education, University of Georgia, 325r Aderhold
Hall, 110 Carlton Street, Athens, GA 30602, USA
2 Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University
of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, USA
Abstract
Following a signicant natural event (e.g., SARS-CoV-2, Hurricane Katrina), some young children adapted eectively
while others face academic and social-emotional challenges (Goenjian et al., American Journal of Psychiatry 162(12)
(2005)); (Joo & Lee, Child Indicators Research, 15 (2022)); (Stark et al., Psychological Trauma: Theory Research Practice
and Policy, 12(S1) 2020); children from groups that are historically and institutionally marginalized are at greater risk of
experiencing negative outcomes than their majority peers. This descriptive study addressed three primary questions: (1)
Did the eects of COVID-19 disruptions on pre-kindergartener’s academic, social, and behavioral skills dier by racial/
ethnic status?; (2) Were student-teacher contact and learning supports/barriers associated with young children’s academic,
social, and behavioral skills during COVID-19 disruptions? Did these associations dier by racial/ethnic status?; and (3)
Was there evidence of academic, social, and/or behavioral “recovery” among study participants during their kindergarten
year? Data were collected from 108 pre-kindergarten children’s teachers via online surveys. Teachers reported no contact
with 11% and frequent contact with 37.4% of students after in-person classroom instruction ceased. Common types of
contact were in-person video-chats and pre-recorded lessons. Children from groups that are historically and institution-
ally marginalized more frequently had no contact with their teachers and fewer in-person video-chats and pre-recorded
lessons. Teachers also reported access to learning materials, technology, and parent engagement/support was lower for
children from historically and institutionally marginalized groups. A second wave of data collection revealed children had
signicant improvements in language and social skills from pre-kindergarten to elementary and small declines in behavior
problems. Findings oer evidence that children from groups that are historically and institutionally marginalized received
fewer learning supports immediately following COVID-19 disruptions but that primary-school teachers made a concerted
eort to engage all children in positive learning experiences and frequent contact, serving as a protective factor against
the potential negative impact that COVID-19 disruptions had on children’s learning and development.
Keywords School readiness · COVID-19 disruptions · Learning supports · Racial/ethnic dierences · Kindergarten
recovery
Accepted: 4 April 2025
© The Author(s) 2025
Teacher-Child Contact and Pre-Kindergartener’s Academic and Social-
Emotional Skills Following COVID-19 Disruptions
Kristen L.Bub1· StaceyNeuharth-Pritchett1· EricaSmolinski2· SoaHirt1
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
Yet, such relationships are key building blocks for school
readiness (Fung et al., 2019; Nguyen et al., 2020). For
example, Marks and colleagues (2023) note that emotion
knowledge and teacher-child closeness were positively
related to academic readiness especially for children with
low emotion knowledge.
Long-term impacts of disruptive events include emerging
mental health concerns and trouble managing typical devel-
opmental such tasks such as regulating emotions, respond-
ing to subsequent traumatic situations, and forming healthy
relationships with peers and adults (Kousky, 2016; Moore &
Varela, 2010). Moreover, in the aftermath of crises, children
who already face personal or academic challenges can be
at greater risk of negative outcomes, including poor school
readiness, than peers who face fewer challenges (Howard,
2015; McCormick et al., 2024; Pfeerbaum, 2021). Teach-
ers, who themselves have strong emotional skills, can sup-
port children’s academic achievement and minimize the
impact of these stressors on children’s development (Arace
et al., 2021; Kotaman, 2022). Further, teachers can experi-
ence less burnout when there are healthy relationships and
socio-emotional support between teachers and the children
in their classrooms (Eadie et al., 2021). Given the unprece-
dented pandemic, we must unpack how the novel coronavi-
rus aected children’s school readiness, whether impacts are
the same for all children, and how the responses of schools
and teachers supported children’s recovery. With two waves
of data from a longitudinal study, we examined the asso-
ciations between frequency and type of teacher contact and
child academic and social-emotional outcomes at the end
of pre-kindergarten and after the transition to kindergarten.
Educational Disruptions, Learning, and
Social-Emotional Development
Pre-kindergarten experiences are grounded in expectations
for typical routines that solidify foundational knowledge and
skills. Disruptions to these routines, or exogenous shocks
to development, result in loss of learning access, further
exacerbating disparities in opportunity gaps for pre-kinder-
garteners (Benner & Mistry, 2020; Lai & La Greca, 2020).
The American Academy of Pediatrics’ position statement
on children’s physical engagement in schools recognizes
emerging concerns regarding lack of access to educational,
social, physical, and psychologically safe environments
for children (Coller & Webber, 2020; Golberstein et al.,
2020). Loss of instructional days from school closures in
spring 2020 to the end of the academic year was estimated
as a median of 54 days (Christakis et al., 2020). Research
highlights concerns with remote instruction for elemen-
tary learners during the pandemic (Weiland et al., 2021).
For example, Relyea and colleagues (2022) noted remote
instruction, particularly in reading, had a more profound
negative eect on children from historically and institution-
ally marginalized populations. Changes to parents’ shared
reading practices with children oered less opportunity for
such activities (Read et al., 2022).
Researchers have projected U.S. students started the
2020–2021 academic year with 63–68% of reading and
37–50% of mathematics learning gains from a typical school
start (Kuhfeld et al., 2020). Along with academic learning
constraints, researchers are assessing the pandemic’s impact
on the social, emotional, and mental health needs of young
children (Danese & Smith, 2020; Fegert et al., 2020). Data
collected weekly, beginning in April 2020, on children
under the age of ve on the Rapid Assessment of Pandemic
Impact on Development Early Childhood Household Sur-
vey Project, found increases in child behavioral concerns
and anxiety. Unfortunately, these eects were greater in
children who were members of low-income and racially
or ethnically marginalized groups (Center for Translational
Neuroscience, 2020). Emerging studies note concerns with
young children for depression (Glynn et al., 2021), nervous-
ness, agitation, and aggression (Shorer & Leibovich, 2020),
and internalizing and externalizing behavior (Achterberg
et al., 2021). With growing evidence that early childhood
programs promote positive outcomes for children (Bassok
et al., 2018), and evidence suggesting schools serve as one
of the essential components of successful societal recovery
from a pandemic (Fay et al., 2020), it is important to exam-
ine the role Pre-K programs play in buering abrupt disrup-
tions of early learning from the global pandemic.
Teacher-Child Interactions and Instructional
Supports during the Disruption
As schools and families made sense out of the rapid shift to
alternate learning environments, researchers and practitio-
ners sought to understand which instructional supports and
teacher actions facilitated children’s learning and develop-
ment, and which types of supports exacerbated existing dis-
parities in access, learning, and teacher-child connections
(Richmond et al., 2020). Relationships are the foundation
of high-quality teacher-child interactions. The literature
documents strengths from teacher-child relationship quality
and children’s academic outcomes, social-emotional com-
petence, and behavior (McNally & Slutsky, 2018; Webb &
Neuharth-Pritchett, 2011). Although maintaining the inter-
actions so crucial to young children’s development was a
goal during the closure and remote re-opening of schools,
those experiences could not fully approximate the same
depth of in-person interactions between teachers and chil-
dren or the real-time instructional supports so necessary
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
for fostering young children’s learning and development
(Hanno et al., 2020) including teacher supports for parents
in their roles facilitating learning during pandemic (Chen &
Rivera-Vernazza, 2022).
Instructional supports for young children often include
emotional support, classroom organization, and specic
attention to aspects such as concept development, feedback,
and language modeling (Pianta & Hamre, 2009). Moving
from in-person instruction to the use of technology through
videos, short live remote sessions, or other forms of com-
munication such as email, teachers were challenged with
meaningful opportunities to recognize exactly where chil-
dren’s development skill sets were and how they might
support scaolding more complex skills (Khalid & Pope,
2024; Plotka & Guirguis, 2023; Skibbe et al., 2004). Given
limited interactions between children and their teachers dur-
ing in-person instruction closures, teachers had constrained
abilities to give consistent and timely feedback, engage their
students, and extend children’s learning through real-time
thoughtful follow-up instructional supports and interactions
(Burgin et al., 2022; Crawford et al., 2021; Justice et al.,
2008; Leech et al., 2022; Pressley & Ha, 2021).
Access to Learning during the Disruption to Formal
Schooling
Although schools serve as stable, predictable environ-
ments for young children and oer safety following disas-
ters (Osofsky et al., 2007), other contexts (e.g., homes) are
more variable and can compound child stressors (Bosire
et al., 2024; Villegas et al., 2024). Immediately following
school closures, children had uneven access to and quality
of school supports driving long-term questions about edu-
cational attainment and opportunity gaps associated with
variable access to learning (Gilliam et al., 2021). Barnett
and colleagues (2020) found only 48% of children in Ameri-
can preschools, closed because of the pandemic, received
some remote support for learning. Supports included work-
sheets, paper-based supports, or digital support. Parental
reports from the same study indicated most children (61-
72%) engaged less than once a week in 10 measured learn-
ing activities (e.g., listening to a story, video chat with a
teacher, math or science activities). Ambrose (2020) notes
children from populations where other social and environ-
mental stressors are present are less likely to have access to
infrastructure for remote learning, consistent adult support
for learning, and other learning resources (e.g., materials,
consistent internet access). Indeed, an Education Trust poll
revealed 42% of families of color and 50% of families expe-
riencing economic insecurity lack the technology to engage
in remote learning (The Education Trust, 2021).
The Current Study
The spring of pre-kindergarten typically witnesses an explo-
sion of academic, positive social, and adaptive behavioral
and relational skills (Berk, 2018; Mulvey & Jenkins, 2020).
Therefore, abrupt disruption during a period of rapid growth
is a context worth studying. COVID-19 was an unexpected
and unplanned exogenous “shock” to schools globally.
Educational disruptions such as uncertainty around safe
returns to group settings, time without the typical structure
of school, interrupted instruction, and restricted access to
social interactions with teachers and peers might change the
course of a child’s academic and social-emotional trajectory
as children enter formal schooling. Inequalities within and
across schools might lead to variable trajectories for chil-
dren living in challenging situations. To explore this pos-
sibility, we investigated whether the eects of COVID-19
disruptions on pre-kindergartener’s academic and social-
emotional skills dier by racial/ethnic status. Additionally,
using variations in practice at the school and/or classroom
level, contact time, and contact regularity, we examined
whether student-teacher contact and learning supports/barri-
ers predicted young children’s academic, social, and behav-
ioral skills during COVID-19 disruptions; we also explored
racial/ethnic dierences in these associations. Finally, we
investigated whether there was evidence of academic,
social, and/or behavioral “recovery” among study partici-
pants during Kindergarten. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s
bioecological model (Bronfenbrenner, 2005) and the Pro-
cess-Person-Context-Time frame (PPCT), our research
questions examine the interrelations among proximal pro-
cesses, personal characteristics, contexts, and time in under-
standing the nature of developmental outcomes following
an unexpected disruption to formal schooling (Tudge et al.,
2009). This study views children’s experiences and interac-
tions in early education settings (before and following the
disruption to formal schooling) as the proximal processes of
interest. These processes can vary systematically as a func-
tion of individual personal characteristics (i.e., child demo-
graphics), the context in which the processes occur (i.e.,
virtual learning environments), and time.
Method
Study Procedures and Participants
Data derived from two waves of a longitudinal study exam-
ining the impacts of COVID-19 disruptions on pre-kinder-
garteners’ and kindergarteners’ development. Participants
were recruited from pre-kindergarten classrooms in one
southeastern school district. Using an online platform for
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
= 0.93 for language, ɑ = 0.96 for mathematics, and ɑ = 0.94
for general knowledge).
Social and Behavioral Skills
The Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS; Gresham &
Elliot, 2008) assessed teachers’ perceptions of children’s
social and behavioral skills. Teachers indicated how often
(1 = Never, 4 = Almost Always) their students exhibited
each of 76 behaviors in the last two months. Two compos-
ite variables were created. Social skills reected the aver-
age of responses to items on communication, cooperation,
assertion, responsibility, empathy, engagement, and self-
control; sample items include: “Stays calm when teased”
and “Is nice to others when they are feeling bad.” Problem
behavior reected response averages to items on external-
izing, internalizing, bullying, and hyperactivity/inattention.
Sample items include: “Has temper tantrums”, “Acts sad or
depressed”, and “Gets distracted easily.” The SSIS demon-
strates high internal consistency (ɑ ranges from 0.91 to 0.94
in norming sample) and moderate concurrent and predictive
validity (Gresham & Elliott, 1990). In the current sample,
internal consistency was excellent, 0.96 and 0.94 for social
skills and behavior problems, respectively.
Learning Supports
Frequency and Type of Student Interaction
COVID-19 practices were assessed with investigator ques-
tions about teachers’ regularity of engagement with children
following school closures (Absent to Frequent) and type
and frequency of interactions (In-person video chats, Pre-
recorded videos/lessons, Phone calls with child, Phone calls
with parents only, Email contact with family, Neighborhood
parade, Other). We asked teachers to indicate which modal-
ity they used and the number of interactions per week.
Student-teacher Relationship Quality
The Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS; Pianta,
1992) was used to assess the perceived quality of the
teacher-child relationship at the end of pre-kindergarten.
Using a 5-point scale, teachers coded their relationship with
the child (1 = Denitely does not apply to 5 = Denitely
applies). Two subscales were used in the current study:
closeness and conict. The 11-item closeness composite
reects the amount of warmth and open communication
present in the relationship (e.g., “I share an aectionate,
warm relationship with this child”). The 12-item conict
score describes the relationship as antagonistic, disharmo-
nious interactions (e.g., “This child and I always seem to
personal safety, recruitment of teachers and families began
in April 2020 with data collection in May 2020. The project
protocol was approved by the school district and the X’s
Institutional Review Board. Data analysis was conducted
using the statistical program Stata, Version 15 (citation). All
data were complete and missingness was not a concern.
Pre-kindergarten children (n = 108) with a mean age of
61.94 months (SD = 3.88) from 23 classrooms were included
in the rst round of data. The school district’s racial/ethnic
demographics were 0.1% American Indian/Alaskan, 2.03%
Asian/Pacic Islander, 49.29% Black, 24.26% Hispanic,
4.11% Multi-racial, and 20.20% White, along with 16%
dual language learners. Other characteristics included 92%
free- or reduced-price lunch, 14.3% receiving special edu-
cation, and 42% receiving early intervention programs in
the elementary grades, indicating a sample that was experi-
encing multiple social challenges. Across the district and of
all children enrolled in pre-kindergarten, 54.35% were iden-
tied as at-risk (Governor’s Oce of Student Achievement,
2020). This term was used to classify children in need of
additional services. For example, services such as Supple-
mental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, chil-
dren in foster care, or those receiving free or reduced price
lunch. Of the 108 participants, more than half were female
and 47% were White, while 53% represented traditionally
minoritized groups such as African America, Latino/a, or
multiracial children. Based on limited numbers of students
in specic racial/ethnic categories, there was insucient
power to detect group dierences so data from non-White
groups were collapsed together in subsequent analyses. Just
under 10% of the children were identied with a develop-
mental delay (e.g., speech, social, emotional, cognitive) and
approximately 6.5% had an individualized education plan
(IEP) to support the child’s special needs. All 23 teachers
included in the study were female (34.7% non-White) and
had an average of seven years of teaching experience.
Measures
Academic Skills
The Academic Rating Scale (ARS; USDOE, 2002) assessed
children’s language, mathematics, and general knowledge.
Teachers indicated whether the child demonstrated the skill
(1 = Not yet or n/a = skill not introduced yet) and if so, at
what level (Beginning (2) to Procient (5)). Based on scor-
ing guidelines from the ARS authors, scale total scores were
created for each subscale (language and literacy = 11 items,
mathematics = 7 items, and general knowledge = 5 items).
Internal consistency for the current sample was excellent (ɑ
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
Results
Did the Eects of COVID-19 Disruptions on Pre-
Kindergarten Children’s Academic, Social, and
Behavioral Skills Dier by Racial/Ethnic Status?
Descriptive statistics for outcome and predictor variables
immediately following school closures are presented in
Table 1. On average, teachers reported students’ pre-kinder-
garten language and literacy skills fell between “In prog-
ress” and “Intermediate,” while their mathematics skills
were “Intermediate” with general knowledge skills between
“Intermediate” and “Procient”; however, students from
diverse racial/ethnic groups were reported to have signi-
cantly lower language and literacy (t = 2.94, p <.01), math-
ematics (t = 4.35, p <.001), and general knowledge (t = 3.68,
p <.001) skills immediately following the disruption to in-
person instruction at the end of Pre-K. Teachers also reported
that children “often” exhibited positive social skills while
they “seldom” exhibited behavior problems at the end of
pre-kindergarten. No signicant racial/ethnic group dier-
ences were identied for social skills or behavior problems.
Were Student-teacher Contact and Learning
Supports/Barriers Associated with Young Children’s
Academic, Social, and Behavioral Skills During
COVID-19 Disruptions?
Teachers reported no contact with 11% and infrequent/incon-
sistent contact with 21.5% of students immediately follow-
ing school closures (Table 1). Only 37.4% were reported to
have frequent contact with their teachers. On average, teach-
ers used between three and ve dierent modes of contact
with their pre-kindergarten students (M = 3.79, SD = 1.10).
The most common types of contact included in-person video
chats between the teacher and the child, pre-recorded video
lessons from the teacher, and email to the parents with strat-
egies to support their child, although teachers also reported
use of phone calls with students and parents. Teachers also
reported relatively low levels of learning barriers. Neverthe-
less, teachers did note that access to learning materials was a
moderate to serious problem for 7.5% of their students, and
access to technology as a moderate to serious problem for
over 11% of pre-kindergarteners. The school did not pro-
vide one-to-one technology for pre-kindergarteners. Parent
engagement and support was noted as a moderate problem
for only 6.5% of students (no teacher indicated it was a
serious problem). Parent engagement included helping the
child access the live instructional sections with the teacher,
engaging with the child with teacher-provided materi-
als for learning, and generally providing support for the
child’s learning. Finally, teachers reported that the quality
be struggling with each other”). The two subscales have
moderate to high internal consistency in the current sample
(α = 0.88 for the closeness scale and α = 0.93 for the conict
scale). The STRS is associated with students’ and teachers’
classroom behaviors (Birch & Ladd, 1997).
Teachers’ Perceptions of Students’ Home Learning Supports
Teachers also reported on their perceptions of students’
home learning supports using a set of investigator-devel-
oped questions. Teachers were asked how much of a prob-
lem (1 = Not at all to 4 = Serious) they perceived access for
their students to learning materials, access to technology
to allow students to connect with teacher and school, and
parent support/engagement. Questions were led with this
stem “Thinking about this child, how serious a problem are
each of the following for the child.” Examples of supports
were (1) access to academic learning materials, (2) access to
technology to connect with the teacher; (3) access to stable
or reliable internet; (4) parent engagement/support; and (5)
family crisis.
Analytic Approach
Because COVID-19 and school closures were beyond the
control of any researcher, practitioner, or child, the global
pandemic represents a naturally occurring opportunity to
examine this unique experience on children’s developmental
outcomes. To do so, we employed a regression discontinuity
(RD) design - a quasi-experimental design that estimates the
impact of intervention or exogenous “shock” by comparing
the scores just before the event with those just following
the event (Murnane & Willett, 2010). In this design, each
child serves as his or her control, eliminating the need for a
counterfactual. Data collected in Spring 2020 (T1), just as
schools closed, served as children’s pre-test scores; data col-
lected in Fall 2020 (T2), when children were in kindergar-
ten, served as children’s post-test scores. Examining pre-test
and post-test dierences, we can determine the “impact” of
COVID-19 school closures on children’s school readiness.
We also used a descriptive approach to examine associa-
tions between learning supports in the classroom and home
immediately following initial school closures (T1) and
children’s academic, social, and behavioral skills at school
entry (T2).
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
Associations Between Student-Teacher Contact and
Learning Supports/Barriers and School Readiness
Table 2 presents results from multiple regression models
examining frequency of contact and student’s academic,
social, and behavioral skills. Controlling for child sex,
racial/ethnic status, age, and teacher-child closeness and
conict, children whose teachers reported having no interac-
tion after in-person instruction was disrupted demonstrated
signicantly lower language and literacy than children
who experienced frequent interactions. Students of teach-
ers who reported having inconsistent interactions during
the disruption to in-person instruction demonstrated signi-
cantly lower language and literacy, mathematics, and gen-
eral knowledge skills than did their peers who experienced
frequent interactions. Findings suggest that inconsistent or
occasional contact has little benet for young children’s
school readiness. Children with inconsistent teacher con-
tact also had signicantly poorer social skills ratings than
their peers. Occasional but consistent contact predicted
poorer social skills. These ndings again suggest occa-
sional but consistent contact appears to have little benet
for children’s social development. Teacher-child closeness
of their relationship with students was overall very positive,
although they also reported some conict (Table 1).
Mean Dierences by Racial/Ethnic Status at the End
of Prekindergarten
Students from historically and institutionally marginalized
racial/ethnic groups were signicantly more likely to expe-
rience “no contact” with teachers than were White students
(χ2 = 4.91, df = 1, p <.05). Teachers reported signicant dif-
ferences in the type of contact they had with pre-kinder-
garteners from historically and institutionally marginalized
racial/ethnic groups. In particular, these students were sig-
nicantly less likely to experience in-person video chats
(χ2 = 8.04, df = 1, p <.01) and pre-recorded video lessons
(χ2 = 4.01, df = 1, p <.05) compared to White students. No
racial/ethnic dierences were identied for the barriers to
learning or in the quality of the student-teacher relationship
suggesting the foundation for instructional supports was
similar for Non-White and White children.
Table 1 Descriptive statistics for key outcome and predictor variables for the total sample and by Racial/ethnic status
Total Sample
(n = 107)
White
(n = 50)
Non-white
(n = 57)
Mean/%
(SD)
Mean/%
(SD)
Mean/%
(SD)
Child Outcomes
Language and Literacy 3.86 (0.92) 4.13 (0.72) 3.62 (1.02)
Mathematics 4.15 (0.91) 4.52 (0.59) 3.81 (1.01)
General Knowledge 4.41 (0.73) 4.67 (0.471) 4.18 (0.84)
Social Skills 3.18 (0.43) 3.25 (0.40) 3.13 (0.44)
Problem Behavior 1.47 (0.39) 1.43 (0.38) 1.51 (0.39)
Frequency of Contact
No Interactions 11.21% 4.0% 17.5%
Infrequent or Inconsistent Interactions 21.5% 26.0% 17.5%
Occasional but Consistent Interactions 29.91% 30.0% 29.82%
Frequency Interactions 37.38% 40.0% 35.1%
Type of Contact
In-person Video 80.37% 92.0% 70.18%
Recorded Video 89.72% 96.0% 84.21%
Phone Call with Child 39.25% 44.0% 35.1%
Phone Call with Parents Only 53.27% 44.0% 61.4%
Email with Family 97.20% 100% 94.7%
Other 18.69% 20.0% 17.5%
Barriers to Learning
Access to learning materials 1.19 (0.53) 1.06 (0.31) 1.30 (0.65)
Access to technology 1.25 (0.65) 1.02 (0.14) 1.46 (0.83)
Parent support/engagement 1.36 (0.76) 1.04 (0.28) 1.63 (0.92)
Quality of Relationship
Closeness 47.94 (6.71) 49.06 (6.13) 46.96 (7.08)
Conict 17.32 (8.22) 16.66 (7.15) 17.89 (9.07)
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
between email communication and student language and
literacy skills where more email communication was asso-
ciated with better skills. Finally, students who experienced
pre-recorded video lessons demonstrated signicantly
lower behavior problems than their peers who did not. Not
unexpectedly, students whose teachers reported more con-
tact with parents via the phone demonstrated signicantly
higher behavior problems. As was the case with frequency
of contact, teacher-child closeness was positively and signif-
icantly related to children’s academic skills and their social
skills but there was no association for behavior problems;
teacher-child conict was negatively associated with social
skills and positively associated with behavior problems (see
Table 3). The type of contact models accounted for between
28.6% (general knowledge) and 66.3% (behavior problems)
of the variance in children’s kindergarten readiness.
was a consistent positive predictor of children’s academic
readiness and social skills while conict was negatively
associated with social skills and positively associated with
behavior problems. Models accounted for between 31.9%
(mathematics skills) and 60.9% (behavior problems) of the
variance in kindergarten readiness.
Table 3 displays ndings from the models examining
type of contact. Of the types of interactions teachers had
with students following the disruption to in-person instruc-
tion, only in-person video chats were signicantly associ-
ated with students’ academic skills once child sex, racial/
ethnic status, age, and teacher-child closeness and conict
were controlled. Students who had teacher/child video
chats demonstrated signicantly higher language and lit-
eracy skills than children who did not have teacher/child
video chats. Additionally, there was a positive relationship
Table 3 Associations between the types of teacher interactions with children immediately following COVID-19 school closures and children’s
kindergarten readiness
Language Math General Knowledge Social Skills Behavior Problems
B (SE) B (SE) B (SE) B (SE) B (SE)
In person video 0.445*
(0.227)
0.370
(0.229)
0.343+
(0.186)
0.142+
(0.083)
− 0.033
(0.068)
Pre-recorded video 0.369
(0.328)
0.010
(0.332)
0.129
(0.269)
0.042
(0.120)
− 0.291**
(0.098)
Phone child − 0.217
(0.171)
− 0.131
(0.173)
− 0.090
(0.140)
− 0.022
(0.063)
0.046
(0.051)
Phone parents − 0.247
(0.171)
− 0.281
(0.173)
− 0.156
(0.140)
− 0.079
(0.063)
0.135**
(0.051)
Email 1.11*
(0.529)
0.723
(0.535)
0.277
(0.433)
− 0.113
(0.194)
− 0.002
(0.158)
Other − 0.256
(0.220)
− 0.292
(0.223)
− 0.076
(0.180)
− 0.139+
(0.081)
0.115+
(0.066)
Non-white − 0.264
(0.176)
− 0.528**
(0.178)
− 0.325*
(0.144)
0.006
(0.065)
− 0.057
(0.053)
R20.335 0.297 0.286 0.579 0.663
Note: Child sex (not signicant for any model), age in months (positive and statistically sig nicant for behavior problems), teacher-child close-
ness (positive and statistically signicant for language, math, general k nowledge, and social sk ills), and teacher-child conict (negative and
statistically signicant for social skills and positive and statistically signicant for behavior problems) were controlled in each model
*** p <.001, ** p <.01, * p <.05, + p < .10
Language Math General Knowledge Social Skills Behavior Problems
B (SE) B (SE) B (SE) B (SE) B (SE)
No Interaction − 0.711*
(0.284)
− 0.229
(0.284)
− 0.373
(0.226)
− 0.090
(0.105)
0.046
(0.092)
Inconsistent Interaction − 0.755***
(0.206)
− 0.732**
(0.206)
− 0.574**
(0.165)
− 0.154*
(0.077)
0.062
(0.067)
Occasional Interaction − 0.253
(0.188)
− 0.267
(0.188)
− 0.263+
(0.150)
− 0.147*
(0.070)
0.089
(0.061)
Non-white − 0.454**
(0.162)
− 0.723***
(0.162)
− 0.458**
(0.129)
− 0.040
(0.060)
− 0.003
(0.052)
R20.342 0.319 0.327 0.572 0.609
Note: Child sex (not signicant for any model), age in months (not signicant for any model), teacher-child
closeness (positive and statistically signicant for language, math, general knowledge, and social skills),
and teacher-child conict (negative and statistically signicant for social skills and positive and statisti-
cally signicant for behavior problems) were controlled in each model
*** p <.001, ** p <.01, * p <.05, + p < .10
Table 2 Associations between
the frequency of interactions
immediately following COVID-
19 school closures and children’s
kindergarten readiness
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
signicant interactions, where the eects of children’s
learning experiences on their kindergarten readiness dif-
fered by racial/ethnic status. Non-White children who
experienced inconsistent interactions with their teachers
had signicantly lower mathematics skills than did White
children or children who experienced more consistent inter-
actions (see Fig. 1; B = − 0.970, p <.05). In general, regard-
less of the frequency of interaction, Non-White (dashed
line) children were reported to have lower mathematics
skills than White (solid line) children. For Non-White chil-
dren, however, experiencing inconsistent contact with their
teacher appeared to exacerbate this already existing math-
ematics gap; this did not appear to be the case for White
children. We identied similar ndings for general knowl-
edge (B = − 0.599, p =.050). We also found that the relation-
ship between recorded videos and children’s social skills
was moderated by racial/ethnic status (B = − 0.528, p <.05).
More specically, teachers reported signicantly lower
social skills for White children than their Non-White peers
when neither group experienced pre-recorded video lessons;
there were no racial/ethnic dierences in teacher-reported
social skills when children experienced pre-recorded video
interactions.
Our ndings suggest the association between teachers’
perceptions of children’s access to learning materials and
Controlling for child’s sex, racial/ethnic status, and age,
children whose teachers perceived access to learning mate-
rials in the home to be more of a problem rated children
as demonstrating lower language and literacy skills than
other children (B = − 0.450, p <. 05). Contrary to expecta-
tion, barriers and supports were not signicantly associ-
ated with any other academic skills. Results also indicate
that children whose teachers perceived access to technol-
ogy to be more of a problem demonstrated signicantly
lower social skills (B = − 0.235, p <.05) and higher behavior
problems (B = 0.224, p <.05) than peers for whom access to
technology was less of a problem. Perceptions of parental
engagement and support was signicantly and negatively
associated with children’s behavior problems (B = − 0.181,
p <.05). Models accounted for between 16.8% (social skills)
and 22.6% (language skills) of the variance in children’s
kindergarten readiness skills.
Moderation by Racial/Ethnic Status at the End of
Prekindergarten
To dierences by racial/ethnic status, we re-t our regres-
sion models but included interaction terms for those expe-
riences that demonstrated statistically signicant main
eects. Moderation analyses revealed several statistically
Fig. 1 Racial/ethnic dierences in frequency of teacher-child interaction and mathematic achievement
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
measures used in Wave 1 were used in Wave 2. All children
and teachers were engaged in fully-remote instruction in the
fall of 2020.
To explore the causal impact that COVID-19 disruptions
across the transition to kindergarten, we examined mean
dierences between children’s pre-kindergarten skills (i.e.,
their pre-pandemic skills) and their kindergarten skills (i.e.,
post-pandemic skills) for all children and then separately
by race/ethnicity. On average, children demonstrated sig-
nicant improvements in language skills (MT1 = 3.73 (0.15),
MT2 = 4.11 (0.15); t = -3.05, p <.01) and social skills (MT1
= 3.12 (0.06), MT2 = 3.46 (0.06); t = -3.69, p <.001) from
pre-kindergarten to kindergarten. Teachers also reported
small declines in behavior problems (MT1 = 1.49 (0.06),
MT2 = 1.36 (0.04); t = 1.91, p =.06). These pre- and post-
pandemic dierences were greater for Non-White children
compared to White children. More specically, Non-White
children experienced signicant improvements in language
(MT1 = 3.62 (0.84), MT2 = 4.09 (0.87); t = -3.58, p <.01) and
social skills (MT1 = 3.05 (0.41), MT2 = 3.44 (0.35); t = -3.05,
p <.01) and signicant declines in behavior problems (MT1 =
1.53 (0.41), MT2 = 1.34 (0.19); t = 2.10, p <.05.
An examination of the types and frequency of con-
tact indicates that by kindergarten, White and Non-White
children were experiencing similar levels of in-person
and pre-recorded contact; Non-white children received
their behavior problems (see Fig. 2) diered by racial/ethnic
status. Interestingly, White children (solid line) for whom
access to learning materials was perceived by teachers to be
more of a problem had signicantly higher behavior prob-
lems than did Non-White children (dashed line) or children
for whom access to learning materials was perceived to be
less of a problem (B = − 0.802, p <.05). In fact, Non-White
children’s behavior problems appear to be unrelated to
their access to learning materials while White children with
more limited access to learning materials demonstrate more
behavior problems. When access to learning materials is not
a problem, there are no dierences between White and Non-
White children’s behavior problems.
Was There Evidence of Academic, Social, and/or
Behavioral “Recovery” Among Study Participants
During Their Kindergarten Year?
Data were collected on participating children when they
were in Kindergarten (Fall 2020). In sum, 16 teachers of 41
participating children agreed to complete questionnaires on
their students. Each of the 16 teachers was a new adult in
the child’s life. No pre-kindergarten teacher followed their
children as the teacher in the kindergarten classroom. Of the
41 children with academic, social, and behavioral data, half
were female and approximately 64% were Non-White. All
Fig. 2 Racial/ethnic dierences in access to learning materials and behavior problems ratings
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
learning losses following the pandemic. This nding is
consistent with the work on Zhang and Lee (2020) where
they asserted preschoolers’ emotional resilience could be
enhanced through reassurance, regulation, and routine.
Teachers reported dierential contacts with students fol-
lowing school closures, with video chats and pre-recorded
video lessons most common. Our ndings suggest that
videos, whether live or pre-recorded, are associated with
better academic skills compared to other types of contact.
These videos might have allowed children to experience
some more realistic connections to their teachers, albeit
virtual rather than in-person. Gaudreau and colleagues
(2020) reported that during a book-reading task, children
were more responsive to prompts in live and video chats
than pre-recorded conditions. Similarly, in work by Kuhl
and colleagues (2003), infants demonstrated better phonetic
learning of a foreign language when they were exposed
to live but not pre-recorded episodes of that language.
Together, these studies suggest that although technology can
help minimize academic and social learning losses, it must
be accessible, intentional, and developmentally appropriate,
to all children and is best accompanied by some element
of interpersonal interaction (Kuhl et al., 2003; NAEYC &
Fred Rogers Center, 2012; Timmons et al., 2021); however,
long-term technology use for children is cautioned (Chen &
Adams, 2022; Healthy Children, 2016). Our follow-up nd-
ings suggest that kindergarten teachers made a concerted
eort to engage all children in positive learning experiences
and frequent contact, which might have served as a protec-
tive factor (Zhang & Lee, 2020) against the potential nega-
tive impact COVID-19 disruptions could have on learning
and development.
Racial/Ethnic Dierences
Consistent with previous work examining children’s devel-
opment following a signicant natural event, our ndings
suggest children from historically and institutionally mar-
ginalized groups were at signicantly greater risk for poor
academic outcomes (Psacharopoulos et al., 2020). Ample
evidence has demonstrated the long-term consequences of
these early academic disparities on educational attainment,
health, and wealth (Duncan & Magnuson, 2011). Our data
also suggest that students from historically and institution-
ally marginalized groups were somewhat less likely to
exhibit positive social skills, although this association did
not reach statistical signicance. Because social functioning
is a complex process that involves not only social and emo-
tional skills but also cognitive and communication skills
(Beauchamp & Anderson, 2010), it is possible that teachers
had more diculty assessing their children’s social skills,
even after a short absence, without directly observing their
slightly fewer phone calls to parents and children (MNW =
0.192 (0.08), MW = 0.50 (0.14); t = -2.08, p =.04). Teach-
ers reported no signicant dierences in household supports
for White and Non-White children in Kindergarten. Finally,
teachers reported greater closeness (MW1 = 43.89 (0.1.61),
MW2 = 49.20 (0.76); t = -2.91, p <.01) and lower conict
(MW1 = 20.60 (1.44), MW2 = 15.60 (0.34); t = 3.50, p <.001)
with participating students following the pandemic. Non-
White children appeared to experience greater improve-
ments in their social supports at school, indicated by the
signicant increases in teacher closeness (MW1 = 43.95
(1.29), MW2 = 49.19 (1.12); t = -2.94, p <.01) and decreases
in teacher conict (MW1 = 22.14 (1.86), MW2 = 15.43 (0.47);
t = 3.57, p <.01) from pre- to post-pandemic; no dierences
were found for White children.
Discussion
In this study, we examined how COVID-19 impacted chil-
dren’s school readiness at the end of prekindergarten and
following the transition to Kindergarten, whether these
associations were the same for all children, and how school
and teacher responses supported children’s recovery. Over-
all, teachers indicated students were doing well academi-
cally immediately following school closures but that their
contact with students was inconsistent. Just over 11% of
participating pre-kindergarteners were reported to have no
contact with their teachers following school closures while
approximately 37% had frequent contact. Research sug-
gests young children rely heavily on typical routines to
solidify foundational knowledge and skills (Lieberman &
Van Horn, 2004; Pacheco et al., 2022; Selman & Dilworth-
Bart, 2024). Variable contact with teachers suggests a sig-
nicant disruption to those routines, which could result in
considerable learning losses in the early years. Follow-up
data suggests, however, that children did not experience
signicant learning losses as they transitioned to kinder-
garten. Social and emotional needs for these young learners
are highly dependent on close relationships with teachers
and peers (Cadima et al., 2016; Graves Jr. & Howes, 2011;
Rosanbalm & Murray, 2018; Vitiello et al., 2022). In fact,
these early relationships, particularly peer relationships, and
perceptions of belongingness are predictors of early school
achievement (Kochenderfer-Ladd et al., 2022). Thus, longi-
tudinal assessment of the disruption in early development
is necessary to predict recovery and long-term implications
of the pandemic as schools re-opened (Honein et al., 2021).
Our ndings suggest that overall, children - especially Non-
White children - experienced improved relationships with
their teachers as they transitioned to kindergarten. These
positive relationships might have prevented hypothesized
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
that teachers who perceived access to learning materials to
be more of a problem reported that children had somewhat
higher behavior problems as well, although this association
did not reach statistical signicance. Given the economic
context of persistent poverty for our sample, it is likely that
participating families were addressing their own pandemic-
related stressors and thus might not have had sucient time
to support students’ remote learning (Lie et al., 2024).
Limitations
Given that these data were collected immediately after
schools closed in spring 2020, it is dicult to attribute the
academic disparities identied here solely to COVID-19
school closures. Research suggests racial or ethnic group
dierences emerge early (Aber, 2012; Evans et al., 2013)
and our ndings might simply reect these dierences. Fur-
ther, it is not possible to tease out bias in teachers’ percep-
tions of students’ skills in their ratings. Moreover, families
experienced variable home disruptions. For some families
COVID-19 introduced relatively few challenges to the
structure and function of their home while other families
experienced signicant economic, social, and health chal-
lenges, which could simultaneously contribute to children’s
academic, social, and behavioral outcomes. Nevertheless,
our data, and the racial/ethnic dierences we have identi-
ed, serve as a baseline to anchor the follow-up data from
kindergarten. Data were collected from only one lens (teach-
ers) and only as the pandemic started; as a result, it is not
possible to ascertain the contribution of the home environ-
ment to children’s outcomes nor can we determine the direc-
tion of eects from T1 to T2. Data were collected from one
southeastern school district and are not generalizable to all
pre-kindergartners/kindergarteners around the US. Finally,
our sample size is small and we lacked full power to iden-
tify racial/ethnic group dierences in our regression mod-
els because there were not enough children in each of the
racial/ethnic groups which resulted in our need to collapse
children into two comparison groups. Recruitment began
shortly after schools closed when families were addressing
their own needs and providing consent for their children
to participate in a research study was not likely a priority.
Moreover, our follow-up data collection was dependent
upon teachers of participating children agreeing to complete
a set of questionnaires on these children. These data were
collected at a time when teachers were navigating virtual
instruction with young children, balancing the needs of their
own families, and addressing continued impacts of the pan-
demic. However, although the sample size is small, results
provide important information about the outcomes of young
children who were experiencing instruction virtually.
behaviors in the classroom (Cordier et al., 2015). Without
addressing COVID-19’s disruption on children’s develop-
mental trajectories, disparities are likely to widen. With
few signicant dierences between White and Non-White
children’s outcomes in kindergarten, our ndings suggest
teachers carefully attended to the impact of the disruption
as children re-entered their classrooms. Evidence suggests
when children are provided with the supports they need,
recovery from a traumatic experience is possible (Weiland
& Morris, 2022).
Non-White children were also reported to experience
signicantly less frequent contact with teachers and fewer
opportunities for in-person video chats or pre-recorded
video lessons during pre-kindergarten. Teachers did report
somewhat more contact with parents via telephone for stu-
dents from historically and institutionally marginalized
groups, although this dierence was not statistically signi-
cant. These ndings existed even after controlling for the
quality of the teacher-child relationship. As we noted ear-
lier, we cannot directly attribute dierences in school readi-
ness to school closures. Research suggests that children
from historically and institutionally marginalized popula-
tions may have experienced greater material hardships dur-
ing the COVID-19 pandemic, including more limited access
to reliable internet at home and thus more traditional forms
of communication were required (Liu et al., 2024; Vogels,
2021). The fact that historically and institutionally margin-
alized children experienced more limited contact with their
teachers, however, suggests already existing disparities in
educational experiences might have been exacerbated by
the pandemic. Evidence suggests the impact of COVID-19
was disproportionally experienced by children and families
from ethnically, racially, and socioeconomically diverse
populations (Goyal et al., 2020).
Studies also indicate historically and institutionally mar-
ginalized families might have faced more challenges return-
ing to work, getting exible work schedules, or working
from home and thus had limited availability to support their
child’s learning while schools were closed (Masonbrink &
Hurley, 2020). Indeed, families may have been working
during times when teachers were asking parents to log stu-
dents into virtual platforms or live-video sessions, creating
a mismatch between family demands and children’s school-
ing needs. Our ndings are consistent with other work that
speaks to the cultural and structural divides that may have
hindered parents’ abilities to support their children’s learn-
ing during the pandemic (Goudeau et al., 2021).
Children in these families are also less likely to have
access to the digital technology (e.g., no computer or tablet
at home) or virtual learning options (e.g., due to the lack of
internet) to support their learning (Faden et al., 2020); in
many cases, teaching then falls on parents. Our data indicate
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
ameliorate the loss of learning opportunities due to COVID-
19 are needed for all children and especially for those who
already face personal or academic challenges. Indeed, data
suggest that the youngest learners and students from the
historically and institutionally marginalized groups have
the largest reading achievement gap with challenges for
rebounding (Lewis & Kuhfeld, 2022; Storey & Zhang,
2024). Our ndings oer substantive evidence that children
from historically and institutionally marginalized groups
received fewer learning supports immediately following
school closures than did other children. However, partici-
pating teachers appeared to be cognizant of these dispari-
ties and provided additional opportunities for engagement,
access, and support, which lessoned the impact of existing
disparities among children in this study. In future events,
as schools close or alternative approaches to learning are
navigated, continued research is needed to unpack the long-
term impacts of these learning experiences. These eorts
should focus on informing equitable educational practices
that account for the diverse resources that families may
have as they partner with schools to support their children’s
learning. Findings presented here serve as a rst step in this
process. More generally, a call for additional studies on pre-
kindergarten children’s outcomes from the COVID-19 pan-
demic is warranted (Weiland & Morris, 2022).
Acknowledgements This project was supported by the University of
Georgia through funds given to the rst author. Data were collected
as a part of an ongoing longitudinal study. We thank the teachers and
families for their participation in this longitudinal study.
Declarations
Conict of interest The authors have indicated they have no potential
conicts of interest, including no nancial conicts, to disclose.
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format,
as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the
source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate
if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this
article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless
indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not
included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended
use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted
use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright
holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit h t t p : / / c r e a t i v e c o m m o n s . o
r g / l i c e n s e s / b y / 4 . 0 / .
References
Aber, J. L. (2012). Poor and low-income families, infant/toddler devel-
opment and the prospects for change: Back to the future. Infants,
toddlers, and families in poverty: Research implications for early
child care (pp. 3–18). Guilford Press.
Implications for Practice and Future Directions for Research
Some four years after the height of the pandemic, eorts to
ameliorate the loss of learning opportunities due to COVID-
19 are needed for all children and especially for those
who already face personal or academic challenges. In the
event of a future health pandemic or natural disaster where
schooling is impacted for a given period of time, care and
concern about the disproportionate impacts of the eects
of more limited contact with teachers and learning oppor-
tunities should be considered as schools address closures
and non-traditional engagement with children. Specically,
implications for future practice should consider the long-
term impact of lack of sustained contact with teacher and
peers. Further, eorts that are tailored to addressing learn-
ing loss appear to be a continued need for children as they
progress through school.
Although contact was a predictor for academic learning
gains or losses, contact was also a strong predictor for sup-
porting children’s social skill development during remote
instruction. Even though there might be constraints to in-
person engagement among children and their peer, some
solutions using technology can be supportive in promoting
high-quality interactions among children. Addressing stress-
ors related to children’s disconnection from their teachers
and their peers should also be a component of any subse-
quent interventions for children. Further, teachers might
need support in assessing children’s academic competen-
cies as they plan to meet the variable instructional needs of
these children who have been abruptly removed from typi-
cal schooling practices as a result of a health pandemic or
natural disaster.
Implications for research include immediate documen-
tation of where children are in their academic, behavioral,
and social needs. Although this study had a small sample,
evidence from quickly assessing and following children’s
progress across time provide some unique insights into
the impact of disruptions from schooling. Research is also
needed into the long-term impact of school closures on
young children’s academic, behavioral, and social outcomes
is needed to assess the long-term implications of such
events. Finally, future research should include methodolo-
gies that better support pairing quantitative ndings within
the contexts of existing disparities for children and families
that were exacerbated by the pandemic.
Conclusions
Varied adaptation for children to stressful situations such
as school closures and changes in routine inherently intro-
duces additional inequalities in school success. Eorts to
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
psychometric quality of social skills measures: A systematic
review. PloS One, 10(7), e0132299.
Crawford, A., Vaughn, K. A., Guttentag, C. L., Varghese, C., Oh, Y., &
Zucker, T. A. (2021). Doing what I Can, but I got no magic wand:
A snapshot of early childhood educator experiences and eorts to
ensure quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 49(5), 829–840.
Danese, A., & Smith, P. (2020). Debate: Recognising and responding
to the mental health needs of young people in the era of COVID-
19. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 25(3), 169–170.
Duncan, G. J., & Magnuson, K. (2011). The nature and impact of
early achievement skills, attention skills, and behavior problems.
Whither Opportunity, 47–70.
Eadie, P., Levickis, P., Murray, L., Page, J., Elek, C., & Church, A.
(2021). Early childhood educators’ wellbeing during the COVID-
19 pandemic. Early Childhood Education Journal, 49, 903–913.
h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 1 0 6 4 3 - 0 2 1 - 0 1 2 0 3 - 3
Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M. G., Sheldon, S. B., Simon, B. S., Salinas,
K. C., Jansorn, N. R., & Williams, K. J. (2018). School, family,
and community partnerships: Your handbook for action. Corwin.
Evans, G. W., Li, D., & Whipple, S. S. (2013). Cumulative risk and
child development. Psychological Bulletin, 139(6), 1342–1396.
Faden, R., Faxon, E., Anderson, A., Wahl, M., & Collins, M. (2020).
The ethics of K-12 school reopening: identifying and addressing
the values at stake. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, June.
Retrieved from h t t p s : / / s c h o o l h e a l t h . j h u . e d u / w p - c o n t e n t / u p l o a d
s / 2 0 2 0 / 0 6 / W h i t e - P a p e r - E q u i t y - F I N A L . p d f on August 16, 2021.
Fay, J., Levinson, M., Stevens, A., Brighouse, H., Geron, T., & Fel-
low, P. (2020). Schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: Sites
and sources of community resilience. Edmond J. Safra Center of
Ethics.
Fegert, J. M., Vitiello, B., Plener, P. L., & Clemens, V. (2020). Chal-
lenges and burden of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pan-
demic for child and adolescent mental health: A narrative review
to highlight clinical and research needs in the acute phase and the
long return to normality. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and
Mental Health, 14, 1–11.
Fung, W. K., Chung, K. K. H., Lam, I. C. B., & Li, N. X. (2020).
Bidirectionality in kindergarten children’s school readiness and
emotional regulation. Social Development, 29(3), 801–817. h t t p s
: / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 1 1 1 / s o d e . 1 2 4 3 4
Gaudreau, C., King, Y. A., Dore, R. A., Puttre, H., Nichols, D., Hirsh-
Pasek, K., & Golinko, R. M. (2020). Preschoolers benet
equally from video chat, pseudo-contingent video, and live book
reading: implications for storytime during the Coronavirus pan-
demic and beyond. Frontiers in Psychology, 11.
Gilliam, W. S., Malik, A. A., Shaq, M., Klotz, M., Reyes, C.,
Humphries, J. E., Murray, T., Elharake, J. A., Wilkinson, D., &
Omer, S. B. (2021). COVID-19 transmission in US child care
programs. Pediatrics, 147(1), e2020031971.
Glynn, L. M., Davis, E. P., Luby, J. L., Baram, T. Z., & Sandman,
C. A. (2021). A predictable home environment May protect child
mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neurobiology of
Stress, 14, 100291.
Goenjian, A. K., Walling, D., Steinberg, A. M., Karayan, I., Najarian,
L. M., & Pynoos, R. (2005). A prospective study of posttraumatic
stress and depressive reactions among treated and untreated ado-
lescents 5 years after a catastrophic disaster. American Journal of
Psychiatry, 162(12), 2302–2308.
Golberstein, E., Wen, H., & Miller, B. F. (2020). Coronavirus disease
2019 (COVID-19) and mental health for children and adoles-
cents. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(9), 819–820.
Goudeau, S., Sanrey, C., Stanczak, A., Manstead, A., & Darnon, C.
(2021). Why lockdown and distance learning during the COVID-
19 pandemic are likely to increase the social class achievement
gap. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(10), 1273–1281.
Achterberg, M., Dobbelaar, S., Boer, O. D., & Crone, E. A. (2021).
Perceived stress as mediator for longitudinal eects of the
COVID-19 lockdown on wellbeing of parents and children. Sci-
entic Reports, 11(1), 1–14.
Ambrose, A. J. H. (2020). Inequities during COVID-19. Pediatrics,
146(2), e20201501.
Arace, A., Prino, L. E., & Scarzello, D. (2021). Emotional competence
of early childhood educators and child socio-emotional wellbe-
ing. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public
Health, 18(14), 7633. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 3 3 9 0 / i j e r p h 1 8 1 4 7 6 3 3
Barnett, S., Jung, K., & Nores, M. (2020). Young children’s home
learning and preschool participation experiences during the Pan-
demic. NIEER 2020 preschool learning activities survey: techni-
cal report and selected ndings. Updated. National institute for
early education research.
Bassok, D., Magouirk, P., Markowitz, A. J., & Player, D. (2018). Are
there dierences in parents’ preferences and search processes
across preschool types? Evidence from Louisiana. Early Child-
hood Research Quarterly, 44, 43–54.
Beauchamp, M. H., & Anderson, V. (2010). SOCIAL: An integrative
framework for the development of social skills. Psychological
Bulletin, 136(1), 39.
Benner, A. D., & Mistry, R. S. (2020). Child development during the
COVID-19 pandemic through a life course theory lens. Child
Development Perspectives, 14(4), 236–243.
Berk, L. (2018). Exploring child development. Pearson.
Birch, S. H., & Ladd, G. W. (1997). The teacher-child relationship and
children’s early school adjustment. Journal of School Psychol-
ogy, 35(1), 61–79.
Bosire, J. P. O., Gallagher, K. C., & Daro, A. M. (2024). Impact of
COVID-19 on the well-being of parents with young children
from under-resourced backgrounds: A qualitative study. Journal
of Child and Family Studies. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 1 0 8 2 6 - 0 2
4 - 0 2 8 9 3 - 0
Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). Making human beings human: Bioecologi-
cal perspectives on human development. Sage.
Burgin, X. D., Daniel, M. C., & Wasonga, T. A. (2022). Teachers’ per-
spectives on teaching and learning during the pandemic in the
united States. Educational Process: International Journal, 11(3),
122–140.
Cadima, J., Verschueren, K., Leal, T., & Guedes, C. (2016). Classroom
interactions, dyadic teacher–child relationships, and self–regula-
tion in socially disadvantaged young children. Journal of Abnor-
mal Child Psychology, 44, 7–17.
Center for Translational Neuroscience (2020). Flattening the other
curve: Trends for young children’s mental health are good for
some, but concerning for others. Retrieved from h t t p s : / / m e d i u m
. c o m / r a p i d - e c - p r o j e c t / a t t e n i n g - t h e - o t h e r - c u r v e - 7 b e 1 e 5 7 4 b 3 4 0
Chen, J. J., & Adams, C. B. (2022). Drawing from and expanding their
toolboxes: Preschool teachers’ traditional strategies, unconven-
tional opportunities, and novel challenges in scaolding young
children’s social and emotional learning during remote instruc-
tion amidst COVID–19. Early Childhood Education Journal. h t t
p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 1 0 6 4 3 - 0 2 2 - 0 1 3 5 9 - 6
Chen, J. J., & Rivera-Vernazza, D. E. (2022). Communicating digi-
tally: Building preschool teacher-parent partnerships via digital
technologies during COVID-19. Early Childhood Education
Journal. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 1 0 6 4 3 - 0 2 2 - 0 1 3 6 6 - 7
Christakis, D. A., Van Cleve, W., & Zimmerman, F. J. (2020). Estima-
tion of US children’s educational attainment and years of life lost
associated with primary school closures during the coronavirus
disease 2019 pandemic. JAMA Network Open, 3(11), e2028786.
Coller, R. J., & Webber, S. (2020). COVID-19 and the well-being of
children and families. Pediatrics, 146(4), e2020022079.
Cordier, R., Speyer, R., Chen, Y. W., Wilkes-Gillan, S., Brown,
T., Bourke-Taylor, H., & Leicht, A. (2015). Evaluating the
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
pandemic: Dierences by grade level. Online Learning, 26(1),
245–267.
Lewis, K., & Kuhfeld, M. (2022). Progress towards pandemic recov-
ery: Continued signs of rebounding achievement at the start of
the 2022–23 school year. NWEA.
Lieberman, A. F., & Van Horn, P. (2004). Assessment and treatment
of young children exposed to traumatic events. In J. D. Osofsky
(Ed.), Young children and trauma: Intervention and treatment
(pp. 111–138). Guilford Press.
Liu, S., Lombardi, J., Dutta-Gupta, I., & Fisher, P. A. (2024). Racial/
ethnic wealth gaps and material hardship disparities among U.S.
Households with young children: An investigation in the context
of the COVID-19 pandemic. Early Childhood Research Quar-
terly, 69, S39–S50. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 1 6 / j . e c r e s q . 2 0 2 3 . 1 2 . 0 1 3
Marks, L. C., Hund, A. M., Finan, L. J., Kannass, K. N., & Hesson-
McInnis, M. S. (2023). Understanding academic readiness for
kindergarten: The interactive role of emotion knowledge and
teacher–child closeness. Journal of Experimental Child Psychol-
ogy, 227, 1–16. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 1 6 / j . j e c p . 2 0 2 2 . 1 0 5 5 8 5
Masonbrink, A. R., & Hurley, E. (2020). Advocating for children
during the COVID-19 school closures. Pediatrics, 146(3),
e20201440.
McCormick, M., Goldberg, M., Swinth, E., Todd, C. S., Carlis, L.,
Chavez, V., & Xia, S. (2024). Understanding young children’s
learning and development in the wake of the pandemic: Evidence
from Acelero Head Start programs. Early Education and Devel-
opment, 1–27. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 8 0 / 1 0 4 0 9 2 8 9 . 2 0 2 4 . 2 4 2 3 3 8 4
McNally, S., & Slutsky, R. (2018). Teacher–child relationships make
all the dierence: Constructing quality interactions in early
childhood settings. Early Child Development and Care, 188(5),
508–523.
Moore, K. W., & Varela, R. E. (2010). Correlates of long-term posttrau-
matic stress symptoms in children following hurricane katrina.
Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 41(2), 239–250.
Mulvery, N., & Jenkins, L. (2020). Language kills as predictors of
social skills and behaviors in preschool children. Contemporary
School Psychology, 25, 503–514. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 4 0 6 8 8 -
0 2 0 - 0 0 2 8 1 - 1
Murnane, R. J., & Willett, J. B. (2010). Methods matter: Improving
causal inference in educational and social science research.
Oxford University Press.
NAEYC & Fred Rogers Center. (2012). Technology and interactive
media as tools in early childhood programs serving children from
birth through age 8 [Position statement]. h t t p s : / / w w w . n a e y c . o r g / s
i t e s / d e f a u l t / l e s / g l o b a l l y - s h a r e d / d o w n l o a d s / P D F s / r e s o u r c e s / p o s i
t i o n - s t a t e m e n t s / p s _ t e c h n o l o g y . p d f
Nguyen, T., Ansari, A., Pianta, R. C., Whittaker, J. V., Vitiello, V. E.,
& Ruzek, E. (2020). The classroom relational environment and
children’s early development in preschool. Social Development,
29(4), 1071–1091.
Osofsky, J. D., Osofsky, H. J., & Harris, W. W. (2007). Katrina’s chil-
dren: Social policy considerations for children in disasters. Social
Policy Report, 21(1), 1–20.
Pacheco, E. M., Parrott, E., Oktari, R. S., & Joe, H. (2022). How
schools can aid children’s resilience in disaster settings: The con-
tribution of place attachment, sense of place and social represen-
tations theories. Frontiers in Psychology, 13.
Pfeerbaum, B. (2021). Challenges for child mental health Raised by
school closure and home connement during the COVID-19 pan-
demic. Current Psychiatry Reports, 23(10), 65. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0
. 1 0 0 7 / s 1 1 9 2 0 - 0 2 1 - 0 1 2 7 9 - z
Pianta, R. C. (1992). The Student-Teacher relationship scale. Univer-
sity of Virginia.
Pianta, R. C., & Hamre, B. K. (2009). Conceptualization, measure-
ment, and improvement of classroom processes: Standardized
Goyal, M. K., Simpson, J. N., Boyle, M. D., Badolato, G. M., Delaney,
M., McCarter, R., & Cora-Bramble, D. (2020). Racial and/or
ethnic and socioeconomic disparities of SARS-CoV-2 infection
among children. Pediatrics, 146(4), e2020009951.
GravesJr, S. L., & Howes, C. (2011). Ethnic dierences in social-
emotional development in preschool: The impact of teacher child
relationships and classroom quality. School Psychology Quar-
terly, 26(3), 202–214.
Gresham, F., & Elliot, S. (2008). In A. G. Services (Ed.), Social skills
improvement system. Pearson PsychCorp.
Gresham, F., & Elliott, S. (1990). Social skills rating system. NCS
Pearson.
Hanno, E. C., Gonzalez, K. E., Gardner, M., Jones, S. M., Lesaux, N.
K., Hofer, K., & Goodson, B. (2020). Pandemic meets preschool:
Impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on early education and care in
Massachusetts. Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative, Harvard
Graduate School of Education.
Healthy Children (2016, October 21). AAP announces new recommen-
dations for children’s media use. American Academy of Pediat-
rics. h t t p s : / / w w w . h e a l t h y c h i l d r e n . o r g / E n g l i s h / n e w s / P a g e s / A A
P - A n n o u n c e s - N e w - R e c o m m e n d a t i o n s - f o r - C h i l d r e n s - M e d i a - U s e
. a s p x
Honein, M. A., Barrios, L. C., & Brooks, J. T. (2021). Data and policy
to guide opening schools safely to limit the spread of SARS-
CoV-2 infection. Journal of the American Medical Association,
325(9), 823–824.
Howard, E. C. (2015). What matters most for children: Inuencing
inequality at the start of life. Mickey Leland Center for Environ-
ment Justice and Sustainability Information Portal, Paper 11.
Joo, Y. S., & Lee, W. K. (2022). Impact of COVID-19-related stress
on preschool children’s internalizing and externalizing problem
behaviors: The indirect eect of mother’s depression and parent-
ing behavior. Child Indicators Research, 15, 2093–2113. h t t p s : / / d
o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 1 2 1 8 7 - 0 2 2 - 0 9 9 4 6 - 0
Justice, L. M., Mashburn, A. J., Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2008).
Quality of Language and literacy instruction in preschool class-
rooms serving at-risk pupils. Early Childhood Research Quar-
terly, 23(1), 51–68.
Khalid, M., & Pope, E. J. (2024). Early childhood teachers’ experi-
ences during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-cultureal exami-
nation of teachers from Pakistan and the US. Early Childhood
Education Journal, 52, 2079–2093. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 1 0 6
4 3 - 0 2 3 - 0 1 5 5 8 - 9
Kochenderfer-Ladd, B., Ladd, G. W., & Thibault, S. A. (2022). Chil-
dren’s Interpersonal Skills and School‐Based Relationships:
Links to School Adjustment in Early and Middle Childhood.
The Wiley‐Blackwell handbook of childhood social development,
366–385.
Kotaman, H. (2022). Improving early childhood teachers’ emotional
skills supporting children’s academic socio-emotional develop-
ment. Early Child Development and Care, 193(4), 574–586. h t t p
s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 8 0 / 0 3 0 0 4 4 3 0 . 2 0 2 2 . 2 1 2 3 8 0 3
Kousky, C. (2016). Impacts of natural disasters on children. The Future
of Children, 26(1), 73–92.
Kuhfeld, M., Soland, J., Tarasawa, B., Johnson, A., Ruzek, E., & Liu,
J. (2020). Projecting the potential impact of COVID-19 school
closures on academic achievement. Educational Researcher,
49(8), 549–565.
Kuhl, P. K., Tsao, F. M., & Liu, H. M. (2003). Foreign-language
experience in infancy: Eects of short-term exposure and social
interaction on phonetic learning. Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, 100(15), 9096–9101.
Lai, B. S., & La Greca, A. (2020). Understanding the impacts of natu-
ral disasters on children. SRCD Child Evidence Brief, 8.
Leech, N. L., Gullett, S., Cummings, M. H., & Haug, C. A. (2022).
The challenges of remote K-12 education during the COVID-19
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
Early Childhood Education Journal
the unique challenges associated with remote teaching and learn-
ing in K-2. Early Childhood Education Journal, 49, 887–901.
Tudge, J. R., Mokrova, I., Hateld, B. E., & Karnik, R. B. (2009).
Uses and misuses of Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of
human development. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 1(4),
198–210.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) (2020, August
13). Research Brief: Strategies for accelerating learning post-
crisis. Available online at h t t p s : / / p d f . u s a i d . g o v / p d f _ d o c s / P A 0 0 X
7 3 G . p d f
U.S. Department of Education. (2002). Early childhood longitudinal
Study-Kindergarten class of 1998– 199 (ECLS-K): Psychomet-
ric report for kindergarten through rst grade (NCES 2002-05).
National Center for Education Statistics.
United Nations Educational, Scientic and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO) (2020, March 24). COVID-19 impact on education.
Education: From disruption to recover. h t t p s : / / e n . u n e s c o . o r g / c o v
i d 1 9 / e d u c a t i o n r e s p o n s e
Villegas, E., Kissela, L., Piña, G., Leifheit, K., Chen, Y., & Perrin, E.
M. (2024). Understanding family nancial and emotional well-
being during the pandemic. Child Trends. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 5 6 4
1 7 / 9 2 8 a 5 4 6 2 y
Vitiello, V. E., Nguyen, T., Ruzek, E., Pianta, R. C., & Whittaker, J. V.
(2022). Dierences between Pre-K and kindergarten classroom
experiences: Do they predict children’s social-emotional skills
and self-regulation across the transition to kindergarten? Early
Childhood Research Quarterly, 59, 287–299.
Vogels, E. A. (2021). Digital divide persists even as Americans with
lower incomes make gains in tech adoption. Pew Research Cen-
ter, 22.
Webb, M. L., & Neuharth-Pritchett, S. (2011). Examining factorial
validity and measurement invariance of the Student–Teacher
relationship scale. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26(2),
205–215.
Weiland, C., & Morris, P. (2022). The risks and opportunities of the
COVID- 19 crisis for Building longitudinal evidence on today’s
early childhood education programs. Child Development Per-
spectives, 16, 76–81. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 1 1 1 / c d e p . 1 2 4 4 5
Weiland, C., Greenberg, E., Bassok, D., Markowitz, A., Guerrero
Rosada, P., Luetmer, G., Abenavoli, R., Gomez, C., Johnson,
A., Jones-Harden, B., Maier, M., McCormick, M., Morris, P.,
Nores, M., Phillips, D., & Snow, C. (2021). Historic crisis, his-
toric opportunity: Using evidence to mitigate the eects of the
COVID-19 crisis on young children and early care and education
programs. University of Michigan Education Policy Initiative and
Urban Institute Policy Brief. h t t p s : / / e d p o l i c y . u m i c h . e d u / l e s / E P
I- UI- Covid %20Syn thesis%20Bri ef%20Jun e%202021.pdf.
Wong, C. A., Ming, D., Maslow, G., & Giord, E. J. (2020). Mitigat-
ing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic response on at-risk
children. Pediatrics, 146(1), e20200973.
Zhang, X., & Lee, M. K. (2020). How to help children develop emo-
tional resilience during coronavirus. North Carolina Medical
Journal, 81, 137–140. h t t p s : / / l e r n e r c e n t e r . s y r . e d u / w p - c o n t e n t / u p l
o a d s / 2 0 2 0 / 0 5 / Z h a n g _ L e e . p d f
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to juris-
dictional claims in published maps and institutional aliations.
observation can leverage capacity. Educational Researcher,
38(2), 109–119.
Plotka, R., & Guirguis, R. (2023). Distance learning in early childhood
during the COVID-19 crisis: Family and educators’ experiences.
Early Childhood Education Journal, 51, 1359–1370. h t t p s : / / d o i . o
r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 1 0 6 4 3 - 0 2 2 - 0 1 3 8 4 - 5
Pressley, T., & Ha, C. (2021). Teaching during a pandemic: United
States teachers’ self-ecacy during COVID-19. Teaching and
Teacher Education, 106, 103465.
Psacharopoulos, G., Patrinnos, H., Collis, V., & Vegas, E. (2020, April
29). The COVID-19 cost of school closures. Brookings. h t t p s : / / w
w w . b r o o k i n g s . e d u / b l o g / e d u c a t i o n - p l u s - d e v e l o p m e n t / 2 0 2 0 / 0 4 / 2 9
/ t h e - c o v i d - 1 9 - c o s t - o f - s c h o o l - c l o s u r e s /
Read, K., Ganey, G., Chen, A., & Imran, A. (2022). The impact of
COVID-19 on families’ home literacy practices with young chil-
dren. Early Childhood Education Journal, 50, 1429–1438. h t t p s :
/ / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 1 0 6 4 3 - 0 2 1 - 0 1 2 7 0 - 6
Relyea, J. E., Rich, P., Kim, J. S., & Gilbert, J. B. (2022). The COVID–
19 impact on reading achievement growth of grade 3–5 students
in a U.S. Urban school district: Variation across student charac-
teristics and instructional modalities. Reading and Writing. h t t p s :
/ / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 0 7 / s 1 1 1 4 5 - 0 2 2 - 1 0 3 8 7 - y
Rosanbalm, K. D., & Murray, D. W. (2018). Co-regulation from birth
through young adulthood: A practice brief. Oce of Planning,
Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Fami-
lies, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Richmond, G., Bartell, T., Cho, C., Gallagher, A., He, Y., Petchauer,
E., & Curiel, L. C. (2020). Home/School: Research impera-
tives, learning settings, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of
Teacher Education, 71(5), 503–504.
Selman, S. B., & Dilworth‐Bart, J. E. (2024). Routines and child
development: A systematic review. Journal of Family Theory &
Review, 16(2), 272–328.
Shorer, M., & Leibovich, L. (2020). Young children’s emotional stress
reactions during the COVID-19 outbreak and their associations
with parental emotion regulation and parental playfulness. Early
Child Development and Care, 1–11.
Skibbe, L., Behnke, M., & Justice, L. M. (2004). Parental scaolding
of children’s phonological awareness skills: Interactions between
mothers and their preschoolers with Language diculties. Com-
munication Disorders Quarterly, 25(4), 189–203.
Stark, A. M., White, A. E., Rotter, N. S., & Basu, A. (2020). Shift-
ing from survival to supporting resilience in children and families
in the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons for informing U.S. Mental
health priorities. Psychological Trauma: Theory Research Prac-
tice and Policy, 12(S1), S133–S135.
Storey, N., & Zhang, Q. (2024). A meta-analysis of the impact of
COVID-19 on student achievement. Educational Research
Review, 44, 1–16. h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 1 0 1 6 / j . e d u r e v . 2 0 2 4 . 1 0 0 6 2 4
The Education Trust (2021). Parents overwhelmingly concerned their
children are falling behind during school closures. h t t p s : / / e d t r u s t
. o r g / p a r e n t s - o v e r w h e l m i n g l y - c o n c e r n e d - t h e i r - c h i l d r e n - a r e - f a l l i n
g - b e h i n d - d u r i n g - s c h o o l - c l o s u r e s /
The Governor’s Oce of Student Achievement (2020). Pre-kinder-
garten. h t t p s : / / g o s a . g e o r g i a . g o v / d a s h b o a r d s - d a t a - r e p o r t - c a r d / r e p
o r t - c a r d
Timmons, K., Cooper, A., Bozek, E., & Braund, H. (2021). The
impacts of COVID-19 on early childhood education: Capturing
1 3
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Terms and Conditions
Springer Nature journal content, brought to you courtesy of Springer Nature Customer Service Center GmbH (“Springer Nature”).
Springer Nature supports a reasonable amount of sharing of research papers by authors, subscribers and authorised users (“Users”), for small-
scale personal, non-commercial use provided that all copyright, trade and service marks and other proprietary notices are maintained. By
accessing, sharing, receiving or otherwise using the Springer Nature journal content you agree to these terms of use (“Terms”). For these
purposes, Springer Nature considers academic use (by researchers and students) to be non-commercial.
These Terms are supplementary and will apply in addition to any applicable website terms and conditions, a relevant site licence or a personal
subscription. These Terms will prevail over any conflict or ambiguity with regards to the relevant terms, a site licence or a personal subscription
(to the extent of the conflict or ambiguity only). For Creative Commons-licensed articles, the terms of the Creative Commons license used will
apply.
We collect and use personal data to provide access to the Springer Nature journal content. We may also use these personal data internally within
ResearchGate and Springer Nature and as agreed share it, in an anonymised way, for purposes of tracking, analysis and reporting. We will not
otherwise disclose your personal data outside the ResearchGate or the Springer Nature group of companies unless we have your permission as
detailed in the Privacy Policy.
While Users may use the Springer Nature journal content for small scale, personal non-commercial use, it is important to note that Users may
not:
use such content for the purpose of providing other users with access on a regular or large scale basis or as a means to circumvent access
control;
use such content where to do so would be considered a criminal or statutory offence in any jurisdiction, or gives rise to civil liability, or is
otherwise unlawful;
falsely or misleadingly imply or suggest endorsement, approval , sponsorship, or association unless explicitly agreed to by Springer Nature in
writing;
use bots or other automated methods to access the content or redirect messages
override any security feature or exclusionary protocol; or
share the content in order to create substitute for Springer Nature products or services or a systematic database of Springer Nature journal
content.
In line with the restriction against commercial use, Springer Nature does not permit the creation of a product or service that creates revenue,
royalties, rent or income from our content or its inclusion as part of a paid for service or for other commercial gain. Springer Nature journal
content cannot be used for inter-library loans and librarians may not upload Springer Nature journal content on a large scale into their, or any
other, institutional repository.
These terms of use are reviewed regularly and may be amended at any time. Springer Nature is not obligated to publish any information or
content on this website and may remove it or features or functionality at our sole discretion, at any time with or without notice. Springer Nature
may revoke this licence to you at any time and remove access to any copies of the Springer Nature journal content which have been saved.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Springer Nature makes no warranties, representations or guarantees to Users, either express or implied
with respect to the Springer nature journal content and all parties disclaim and waive any implied warranties or warranties imposed by law,
including merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose.
Please note that these rights do not automatically extend to content, data or other material published by Springer Nature that may be licensed
from third parties.
If you would like to use or distribute our Springer Nature journal content to a wider audience or on a regular basis or in any other manner not
expressly permitted by these Terms, please contact Springer Nature at
onlineservice@springernature.com
Available via license: CC BY 4.0
Content may be subject to copyright.
