Margaret Burchinal

Biographic Data

ID223702
NAMEMargaret Burchinal
GIVEN NAMESMargaret
FAMILY NAMEBurchinal
SIGNATUREBURCHINAL M
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
ORCID0000-0002-3606-7843
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS128
TOTAL CITATIONS1598
AUTHOR COUNT128
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1990
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX22

  • Gender Gaps in Early Grades

    Open AccessMegan Kuhfeld, Margaret BurchinalARTICLEEducational Researcher2026

    This study examined the development of achievement differences by gender from kindergarten through fifth grade using data from almost 12 million U.S. students across nine kindergarten cohorts. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, girls entered school ahead in both subjects, but their math advantage has diminished over time. Boys consistently surpassed girls in math skills during elementary school, while girls maintained a steady lead in reading. These…

  • Testing the structure–process–outcome model across different early care and education policy contexts

    Cara L Kelly, Anamarie Whitaker et al.ARTICLEDevelopmental Psychology2026Cited by: 1

    Regulations and policy in early care and education (ECE) is based largely on the idea that structural elements of ECE, such as child-adult ratio, predict teacher-child interactions that then predict child developmental outcomes. This structure-process-outcome model was initially proposed when many states had minimal ECE quality standards. Our study tested the structure-process-outcome model using four large early childhood data sets that were col…

  • Pre-kindergarten classroom experiences and child outcomes through first grade

    Open AccessMargaret Burchinal, Robert Pianta et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2026References: 74

  • Why are preschool programs becoming less effective

    Open AccessAnamarie Whitaker, Margaret Burchinal et al.ARTICLEJournal of Policy Analysis and…2025Cited by: 1References: 3

    Public preschool programs are heralded as an effective policy tool for promoting the development and lifelong well‐being of children from low‐income families. Recent preschool evaluations report divergent findings that are consistently weaker than those of famous demonstration programs implemented in the mid‐20th century. We provide potential explanations for these weaker effects, the most compelling of which focuses on improvements in the early …

  • School entry skills and young adult outcomes

    Open AccessMargaret Burchinal, Deborah L VandellARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2025References: 5

  • Piecing together the puzzle

    Open AccessKylie Garber, Margaret Burchinal et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2025References: 8

  • Associations between school characteristics and learning gains for pre-K attenders and non-attenders

    Open AccessArya Ansari, Natalie A Koziol et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2025References: 1

  • Associations of state-funded prekindergarten with early elementary literacy and absences

    Open AccessMary Bratsch‐hine, Kevin C Bastian et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2025References: 2

  • Coaching and Coursework Focused on Teacher–Child Interactions During Language/Literacy Instruction

    Jason T Downer, Nicole B Doyle et al.ARTICLEEarly Education and Development2024

    A sample of 496 early childhood teachers was assigned randomly in two phases to a series of professional development (PD) interventions. Phase I intervention was a 14-week course on effective teacher–child interactions. Participants were then re-randomized into Phase II intervention, which consisted of individual, interactions-focused coaching. Impacts of the course, coaching, and their combination were evaluated relative to business-as-usual con…

  • Mathematics in U.S. Preschool and Kindergarten Classrooms

    Open AccessMichèle M M Mazzocco, Margaret R Burchinal et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2024References: 16

  • Does Head Start or public Pre-Kindergarten enrollment matter? Associations with children's long-term school attendance in Baltimore City

    Open AccessLieny Jeon, Margaret R Burchinal et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2024References: 1

  • Transition Practices of Rural Pre-K and Kindergarten Teachers and Their Relations to Children’s Academic and Social Skills

    Kylie Garber, Tiffany J Foster et al.ARTICLEEarly Education and Development2023

    Research Findings: The present study examined the transition practices reported by 59 pre-kindergarten (pre-k) and 186 kindergarten teachers in the rural Southeastern United States, and asked if transition practices related to skills at the beginning and end of kindergarten for 387 children. Analyses indicated kindergarten teachers offered more transition practices than pre-k teachers, and the transition practices children received varied dependi…

  • Head Start in Low-Wealth, Rural Communities

    Robert C Carr, Lynne Vernon‐feagan et al.ARTICLEEarly Education and Development2023

    This study utilized data from the Family Life Project (FLP) to examine Head Start children’s school readiness skills at the end of preschool in comparison to two other care groups: home-based care and other center-based care. The FLP study enrolled a birth-cohort of 1,292 children born in two historically low-wealth, rural regions of the U.S., with oversampling of children from low-wealth families and African American families. Propensity score w…

  • Do more hours in center-based care cause more externalizing problems? A cross-national replication study

    Open AccessCatalina Rey‐guerra, H D Zachrisson et al.ARTICLEChild Development2023

    Whether high quantities of center-based care cause behavior problems is a controversial question. Studies using covariate adjustment for selection factors have detected relations between center care and behavior problems, but studies with stronger internal validity less often find such evidence. We examined whether within-child changes in hours in center-based care predicted changes in externalizing problems in toddlers and preschoolers (N = 10,1…

  • Predicting adolescent and young adult outcomes from emotional support and cognitive stimulation offered by preschool-age home and early care and education settings

    Anamarie Whitaker, Paul Yejong Yoo et al.ARTICLEDevelopmental Psychology2023

    Children's early environmental experiences are often considered highly influential for later life development. Yet, environmental contexts, such as the home and early care and education (ECE) setting, and multiple aspects of each setting, are not typically examined concurrently. In this study, we examined associations between cognitive stimulation and emotional support in the home and ECE setting during the preschool years (36-54 months) with ado…

  • Kindergarten academic and social skills and exposure to peers with pre-kindergarten experience

    Open AccessMargaret Burchinal, Robert C Pianta et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2022Cited by: 4References: 8

  • Examining three hypotheses for pre-kindergarten fade-out

    Open AccessMargaret Burchinal, Tiffany J Foster et al.ARTICLEDevelopmental Psychology2022Cited by: 8

    Pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) programs typically improve early academic skills, but those gains too often disappear after children transition to elementary school. At least three hypotheses explain this "fade-out" of Pre-K effects: Pre-K does not focus on the "trifecta skills" that uniquely support subsequent learning and development; the quality of school-age experiences as "sustaining environments" are more important for Pre-K attenders than nonatte…

  • Documenting bilingual experiences in the early years

    Open AccessDina C Castro, Carol Scheffner Hammer et al.ARTICLEBilingualism Language and Cognition2020

    The diversity of experiences among bilingual children is reflected in the variability of abilities in each of their languages. This paper describes the CECER-DLL Child and Family, and Teacher Questionnaires and discusses the utility of these tools. These questionnaires were created to address the need for valid and reliable tools to document contextual characteristics and language experiences of young bilingual children in developmental and educa…

  • The Relation Between Classroom Age Composition and Children’s Language and Behavioral Outcomes

    Open AccessTiffany J Foster, Margaret Burchinal et al.ARTICLEChild Development2020

    Grouping children of different ages in the same preschool classroom (i.e., mixed age) is widespread, but the evidence supporting this practice is mixed. A factor that may play a role in the relation between classroom age composition and child outcomes is peer skill. This study used a sample of 6,338 preschoolers (ages 3–5) to examine the influence of both classroom age composition and peer skill on children’s behavioral and language outcomes. Res…

  • Relating early care and education quality to preschool outcomes

    Open AccessMargaret Burchinal, Kylie Garber et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2020Cited by: 8References: 17

  • The Educare intervention

    Open AccessNoreen Yazejian, Donna Bryant et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2020Cited by: 5References: 7

    The effectiveness of Educare, a center-based early education program, in improving child outcomes at age 3 was evaluated in a randomized clinical trial. Educare programs serve children from birth to age 5 and are designed to reduce the achievement gap between children from low-income families and their more advantaged peers. This study began following 239 children from low-income families who were randomly assigned as infants (<19 months) to Educ…

  • Trends in Children’s Academic Skills at School Entry

    Open AccessMegan Kuhfeld, James Soland et al.ARTICLEEducational Researcher2020Cited by: 3References: 17

    Students’ level of academic skills at school entry are a strong predictor of later academic success, and focusing on improving these skills during the preschool years has been a priority during the past 10 years. Evidence from two prior nationally representative studies indicated that incoming kindergarteners’ math and literacy skills were higher in 2010 than 1998, but no national studies have examined trends since 2010. This study examines acade…

  • School-entry skills predicting school-age academic and social–emotional trajectories

    Open AccessMargaret Burchinal, Tiffany J Foster et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2019Cited by: 8References: 17

  • Change in language and literacy knowledge for Spanish–English dual language learners at school-entry

    Open AccessCarol Scheffner Hammer, Margaret Burchinal et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2019Cited by: 5References: 4

  • Quality of infant child care and early infant development in Portuguese childcare centers

    Open AccessAna Isabel Pinto, Joana Cadima et al.ARTICLEEarly Childhood Research Quarterly2019Cited by: 1References: 6