Newly assembled evidence indicates that children attending South Carolina's early childhood programs are better prepared for first grade than those who do not attend kindergarten. Children who attended some type of kindergarten in 1979-80 reached higher levels of achievement by the end of first grade than children who did not attend. These levels persisted in spite of the provision of compensatory services to the less-ready students during first grade. First graders were assessed in 1981-82; correlations of readiness scores at the beginning of first grade with achievement scores at the end of first grade were .656 for reading achievement and .577 for mathematics achievement. In addition, children who attended some type of kindergarten in 1979-80 were significantly less likely to repeat first grade than children who did not attend. Findings bear a relationship to those of long term experimental studies whose initial results demonstrate that good early childhood programs give children from low income families a better chance of succeeding in school and of later avoiding delinquency and holding a job. (AS)