Research on the Effects of High Quality Early Education on At-Risk Children and from Middle Income Backgrounds

Three U.S. longitudinal studies show long and short-term positive effect for children. These programs were of varying intensity and served mainly at-risk children. These studies include the Abecedarian study in North Carolina, Perry High Scope in Michigan, and the Chicago Child-Parent Center in Illinois. All show consistent benefits that persist for many years following the program.

While the strongest evidence suggests that economically disadvantaged children reap long-term benefits from preschool, children from all other socioeconomic backgrounds have been found to benefit as well. Because of the recent development of state-funded pre-k programs, there are still no longitudinal randomized trials of large scale, state-funded pre-K programs. However, recent studies have employed a regression discontinuity design (RDD) that emulates the results of randomized trials under reasonable assumptions.

In “Preschool Education and Its Lasting Effects: Research and Policy Implications”, author W. Steven Barnett, Ph.D., reviews the research regarding the short- and long-term effects of preschool education on young children’s learning and development, showing that public investment in effective preschool education programs for all children can produce substantial educational, social, and economic benefits. http://nieer.org/resources/research/PreschoolLastingEffects.pdf

Recent research comes from a rigorous, longitudinal study of Tennessee pre-k was released in late February by the Peabody Institute at Vanderbilt University.   The study finds an 82 percent gain for Tennessee pre-k students over peers. http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2011/02/tennessee-pre-k-students-see-82-percent-gain-over-peers/

The Vanderbilt study corroborates a number of similar, high-quality studies that make the case for pre-k.  This growing body of research is summarized in Pre-K Now’s publication, The Case for Pre-K in Education Reform:  A Summary of Program Evaluation Findings.    The Peabody study found that pre-k students demonstrated an average gain of 82 percent more on early literacy and math skills than comparable children who did not attend pre-k.  Other findings included a 98 percent gain in literacy, 145 percent gain in vocabulary, and a 109 percent greater gain in comprehension for the pre-k students over non-pre-k students.

Funded by a $6 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, the Peabody Research Institute study will track pre-k students and evaluate other aspects of Tennessee pre-k though 2014.

A longitudinal study from the United Kingdom found that participation in high-quality pre-k is significantly associated with higher math scores at age 10 – even for middle- and upper-income children. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/321/5893/1161

Research also shows short-term positive effects on children from middle-income backgrounds, including a Connecticut Study – “Preliminary evidence for the impact of mixed-income preschools on low-income children’s language growth,” by researchers Carlota Schechter and Beth Bye. This study compares the receptive language growth of two groups of children from low-income families, one group from economically integrated preschools and the other from programs for low-income families. Language scores of the two groups were not significantly different when they entered the programs in the fall, but the children from low-income families in integrated programs scored significantly higher than the other group in the spring. This finding could reflect the benefits of interacting with peers with different experiences, skills and backgrounds. (Attached)

“The Effects of Universal Pre-K on Cognitive Development”, by William T. Gormley, Jr. is one of the most rigorous studies to date of a state pre-k program that includes a substantial number of middle-income children. This study shows that high-quality pre-k increases all children’s school readiness skills, as measured by early literacy, language, and math assessments, regardless of income level. (attached)

Further exploring benefits to a mixed population of children is the study “Maximizing Returns from Pre-Kindergarten Education”, by Steve Barnett. This brief explains why it makes sense economically to invest in pre-k for all. https://www.clevelandfed.org/research/conferences/2004/november/pdf/barnett.pdf.

In the study “Effects of Five State Prekindergarten Programs on Early Learning”, researcher W. Steven Barnett, et al. found that children attending state-funded pre-K programs in the five states (Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia) gained significantly regardless of ethnic background or economic circumstances. Children from middle-income families did not gain as much as their at-risk peers, but still showed a substantial gain of 75%. http://nieer.org/docs/?DocID=129

In the 2005 report, “The Universal Pre-K Bandwagon” Georgetown University researcher William T. Gormley Jr. reviews universal pre-k programs in six states — Georgia, New York, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Florida, and Massachusetts. He states that as interest in pre-k for all nationwide grows, the positive evidence on program impact is encouraging. In Georgia children who attended pre-K made statistically significant gains on four tests of cognitive development. In Oklahoma children from all racial and ethnic groups and diverse socioeconomic backgrounds benefited from pre-K. http://www.kappanmagazine.org/search?author1=William+T.+Gormley+Jr.&sortspec=date&submit=Submit

“Competent Children at 8: Family, Early Education and Schools” by Cathy Wylie et al, discusses the positive impact of New Zealand early education programs. New Zealand offers programs for children ages 3-5 in a universal kindergarten program. This longitudinal study looked at children’s abilities after early education and again at age 8. They found that early childhood education had enduring and concurrent effects on children’s competency levels.

In Australia, “Child care and early education in Australia – The Longitudinal Study of Australian Children”, published in January 2010, by Linda J. Harrison, et al, The research undertaken is part of a longitudinal study of 10,000 children. Cognitive achievement was noted, with children who did not attend formal pre-k program showing lower scores http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/about/publicationsarticles/research/socialpolicy/Pages/sprp40.aspx

While we continue to recover from the effects of the recent recession, elected officials should look no further than to high-quality early childhood programs as the first dollars to invest for a guaranteed rate of return and with positive, lifelong effects on children and their working parents. Especially for our 19,000 children living in poverty or for children in other families with limited resources, definitive studies at the national level demonstrate that access to high-quality child care is the gateway to early vocabulary development, which leads to early literacy and ultimately to success in school. It is a way in which to break the cycle of generational poverty while preventing the achievement gap from happening in the first place. These investments can ensure that our workers/their parents are focused and productive; can reduce the need for and spending on costly remediation, corrects, and special education programs; and, can ensure a successful beginning for a lifelong learner.

The economy is still tough and resources are scarce; all the more reason for policy choices to benefit from a logical decision making framework. By weighing his new policy agenda against a set of guiding principles around economic growth and long-term fiscal sustainability, Governor-elect Shumlin will benefit generations of Vermonts today and well into the future.

The 110 CEO members of the Roundtable currently employ 15% of the state’s workforce and have an economic footprint of more than $136 billion. As stewards of successful, globally competitive companies with deeply held commitments to Vermont and their employees, we respectfully suggest that all of Vermont’s public officials consider these principles to guide their decision making around the allocation of scarce public resources.

Human Capital: To achieve economic growth and fiscal sustainability, government should seek to strengthen the skills and capacities of Vermont’s entire workforce.

Young Children: In developing human capital, Vermont should focus especially on children, from birth to age five and their families, to ensure that they get the very best possible start in life.

Evaluation: Analysis on the return on investment should be a key consideration in public resource allocation decisions.

Transparency: Government accountability should enable citizens to easily understand and participate in the assessment of revenue and spending decisions.

Sustainability: Vermont’ state budgets should be viable over the long term and elected officials should adopt a multi-year planning horizon that is longer than the re-election cycle.

These principles, which were developed by Pew Center on the States and the Partnership for America’s Economic Success, refer to “capacity-building” policy investments; the most critical to ensure future economic success and elevate everyone’s potential. They are also the hardest to accomplish because they require a long time horizon and a grounding vision of what we wish Vermont to be.

Fortunately, we already have the tools necessary for success because Vermont fares so well on many quality of life and education measures. The Roundtable looks forward to working with Governor-elect Shumlin and others to make these kinds of public investments in human capital our first economic development priority.

In recognition that education transformation must begin with a strong foundation of high quality early learning experiences, Lisa Ventriss, President of the Vermont Business Roundtable (Roundtable), announced today a new partnership, Pre-K Vermont, between a coalition of early education advocates and her organization. “If we are to meaningfully address the escalating costs of our correctional and social welfare programs, and improve educational outcomes, we need to improve our investments in younger children. Early education helps children enter school ready to learn and makes them ten times less likely to be retained in first grade. Controlling costs in public education, while avoiding the stigma that children take with them after being held back, is very important.”

The Vermont Business Roundtable has long been recognized as a leader in public policy development for an array of issues from education to the environment. The organization’s efforts contributed to the passage of Act 62 in 2007, which allows towns to invest in early learning programs.

The new partnership announced today will be funded through a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Partnership for America’s Economic Success and Pre-K Now. The Roundtable will become the new sponsor of Pre-K Vermont, an organization dedicated to increasing access and quality to high quality pre-k programs statewide, with members from business, advocacy, public education, and higher education.

The partnership will develop public policy recommendations regarding early childhood investments and share these with public leaders.

Act 62 Background:

• This year a pre-k enrollment cap will be removed for towns with schools deemed to be “underperforming”.
• Act 62 was signed into law on June 1, 2007. It received strong support from parents and educators, the Vermont Business Roundtable and other business leaders, law enforcement, leaders in education and medicine, along with community leaders across the state.
• Under the legislation, pre-k programs meeting specified quality standards will be allowed funding for 10 hours per week, if local school districts approve. Programs are capped to allow roughly half of the three and four year olds, or all of the four year olds in each district, but districts can also choose to fund all children.
• The bill was passed as a result of a legislative study performed by the Pre-K Study Committee, which included review of four decades of research and testimony from dozens of experts from inside and outside of Vermont.
• Both public and private providers will be qualified to receive funding, but no school district is required to offer pre-k programs. The pre-k program is also voluntary for families.

Members of Pre-K Vermont include representatives from Vermont Business Roundtable, Kids are Priority One, University of Vermont, Vermont Superintendents Association, Head Start, Building Bright Futures, Vermont School Boards Association, private providers, and Northern Lights Career Development Center.

The Roundtable is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization of 100 CEOs of Vermont’s top private and nonprofit employers, representing geographic diversity and all major sectors of the Vermont economy. The Roundtable is committed to sustaining a sound economy and preserving Vermont’s unique quality of life by studying and making recommendations on statewide public policy issue to benefit all Vermonters.