ERIC Number: ED577940
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Mar
Pages: 49
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-
EISSN: N/A
Head Start at Ages 3 and 4 versus Head Start Followed by State Pre-K: Which Is More Effective?
Jenkins, Jade Marcus; Farkas, George; Duncan, Greg J.; Burchinal, Margaret; Vandell, Deborah Lowe
Grantee Submission
As policy-makers contemplate expanding preschool opportunities for low-income children, one possibility is to fund two, rather than one year of Head Start for children at ages 3 and 4. Another option is to offer one year of Head Start followed by one year of pre-k. We ask which of these options is more effective. We use data from the Oklahoma pre-k study to examine these two "pathways" into kindergarten using regression discontinuity to estimate the effects of each age-4 program, and propensity score weighting to address selection. We find that children attending Head Start at age 3 develop stronger pre-reading skills in a high quality pre-kindergarten at age 4 compared with attending Head Start at age 4. Pre-k and Head Start were not differentially linked to improvements in children's pre-writing skills or pre-math skills. This suggests that some impacts of early learning programs may be related to the sequencing of learning experiences to more academic programming. [This paper was published in "Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis" v38 n1 p88-112 Mar 2016 (EJ1089933).]
Descriptors: Achievement Tests, Kindergarten, Early Childhood Education, Preschool Education, Regression (Statistics), Program Effectiveness, Weighted Scores, Reading Skills, Prior Learning, Educational Policy, Comparative Analysis, Program Length, Peer Influence, Curriculum Evaluation, Student Records, Effect Size, Achievement Gains, Early Intervention, Writing Skills, Probability, Financial Support, At Risk Students, Student Characteristics, Writing Readiness, Reading Readiness
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Kindergarten
Audience: Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED); Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Oklahoma (Tulsa)
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305B120013; P01HD065704