Early childhood education, from preschool to kindergarten, is a critical time. Of this fact, the research is almost completely conclusive. Ample evidence supports preschool as being one of the predicating factors of a child's later academic success. Unfortunately, not all children have equal access to preschool and pre-kindergarten programs. As Bridges (n.d.) also points out, research on preschool's efficacy in helping students reach higher academic achievement later in life is spurious and not necessarily valid. Amid all the "exaggerated claims about the effects of preschool," what emerges as fact and what is fallacy (Bridges, n.d., p. 195)? This review of literature, however small, attempts to answer this question by focusing on situational and contextual variables that impact preschool effectiveness.

Although early research on the efficacy of preschool was wrought with problems related to internal and external validity, Bridges (n.d.) claims that later studies offered more sensible research designs and methods....
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