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Economic benefits of quality preschool education for America's 3- and 4-year olds
National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) estimates the average benefits from a universally accessible program at ages 3 and 4 to be at least $25,000 per child, substantially more than the costs. The estimated cost- per-child (mixing half day, school day, and full day programs) is $8703 annually and $17,406 for two years.
NIEER derived benefit estimates by using the following data:
• The Chicago Child Parent Center study produced a present value (using a 3% real discount rate) of $48,000 in benefits per child from a half-day public school preschool (an average of 1.5 years attendance) for low-income children.The study found at age 20, participants were more likely to have finished high school than children who weren't in the program. They were also less likely to have been held back in school, less likely to have needed remedial help, and less likely to have been arrested. It's estimated for every dollar invested, the return is $7, based on the reduced costs of remedial education and justice system expenditures, and in the increased earnings and projected tax revenues for participants.
• The Perry Preschool program produced a present value (using a 3% discount rate) of $108,000 per child from a half-day public preschool program (most attended two years, beginning at age three) for very low-income children. (Our best estimate is that the benefits are larger from two years of preschool than one, but not twice as large.)
The study found at age 27, program participants had higher monthly earnings and completed a higher level of schooling than children who didn't take part. There were also fewer arrests among participants and a lower percentage received social services over the past 10 years. It's estimated the program also returned $7 for every dollar invested.
• Both these studies only look at low–income children, so estimates must be made concerning benefits for other children. It is reasonable to assume middle to high-income children will also receive benefits, based on the preventable problems these children encounter. For example, 9% of children in families with incomes in the top 20% are held back in school, compared with 18% in the lowest 20%. So NIEER conservatively applied the lower benefit figure of $48,000 from the Chicago Child Parent Study to the poorest 20% of the population, while assuming benefits for the middle 60% of the population would be half as large, and benefits for the top 20% of income level would be only 10% of those for poor children. This yields an average benefit estimate across all children of $25,000 per child.
• Both of the studies cited above provide somewhat incomplete estimates of the value of benefits. For example, increased educational attainment is likely to improve long-term health outcomes, personal financial decisions, and the economic prospects of the next generation. None of these benefits were estimated in the two studies. Also, since both were studies of half-day preschool programs, neither provides an estimate for the value of increased parental earnings likely to result from the child care provided by school-day and full-day programs.
What does "readiness" for school really mean?
School readiness is about children's ability to adjust to the demands of school. Beyond basic abilities and knowledge in language and math, children need broader underlying cognitive, social and emotional skills and the capacity to continue to learn and gain understanding. They must be able to interact with others positively, pay attention, remember lessons taught, follow a teacher's directions, finish tasks, and practice independently what they have learned. They must be able to control their emotions, and they must be persistent even when learning seems tough.
Children's readiness for school also depends on their physical health. Children cannot learn well if they eat poorly, cannot see the blackboard because of vision problems, or cannot hear what the teacher says because they have undiagnosed hearing problems. Some skills and abilities developed at early age enhance a child's capacity to succeed throughout the school years; the ability to plan ahead, for example, is important when children start being assigned long-term projects.
What is a rebuttal to the comment "research shows that the gains made by Head Start students evaporate or level off by third grade?"
NIEER Director Steve Barnett reviewed 22 long-term studies of the effects of preschool in a 1993 article entitled Does Head Start Fade Out? Each study followed children from preschool until at least 3rd grade. Results from these studies show that initial gains in children's IQ scores tended to disappear over time. However, gains in graduation rates, as well as declines in special education placements and grade retention, were maintained.
While initial gains in Head Start children's achievement-test scores appear to fade over time, Barnett argues that these apparent declines can be attributed to poor research designs and selective attrition of research participants. Most notably, children placed in special education classes and those retained in grade have often been excluded from school-administered achievement tests. The cumulative effect is that the group of tested children who participated in preschool programs is eventually equated with the group of tested non-participants in terms of academic ability. Thus increases in Head Start children's achievement scores may appear to vanish even when maintained.
An August 2000 report by Sherri Oden and colleagues, Into Adulthood: A Study of the Effects of Head Start, provides additional insight into Head Start's long-term effects. This study focused on the High/Scope curriculum, which is used by more than a third of Head Start programs. Results from the study suggest that, throughout their school years, former Head Start participants from High/Scope classrooms earned higher GPAs than those from non-High/Scope classrooms.
Therefore, the so-called fade out effect--by which the positive effects of preschool programs are said to evaporate as time passes--is a myth. According to Barnett, "There is considerable evidence that preschool programs of many types--including Head Start--have persistent effects on academic ability and success. There is no convincing evidence that these effects decline over time."
http://nieer.org/faq/index.php?TAid=22
The Battle Over Head Start: What The Research Shows W. Steven Barnett
Long-Term Benefits
Head Start study finds long-term impact
Despite doubts cast by previous studies of Head Start, a long-term study shows that a Head Start program of the 1970s, which was part of the National Planned Variation Head Start Project, helped participating young children achieve greater school success and avoid crime as they grew up. Earlier studies of the federal Head Start preschool program for low-income children and families, which began in 1965, found short-lived effects on children's test scores, prompting the government to make program improvements.
Into Adulthood: A Study of the Effects of Head Start, by Sherri Oden, Lawrence Schweinhart, and David Weikart with Sue Marcus and Yu Xie (2000), presents encouraging findings from a 17-year follow-up study of 622 young adults 22 years old in Colorado and Florida, who were born in poverty and did or did not attend Head Start as young children. The researchers located and interviewed 77 percent of the original sample of children.
The study found evidence of important effects on school success and crime. For females (but not males) at one study site after adjusting for background differences, only about one-fourth as many Head Start participants as nonparticipants (5% versus 19%) failed to obtain a high school or GED diploma, and only one-third as many (5% versus 15%) were arrested for crimes.
High/Scope's approach has a positive effect in Head Start programs
The study also examined the effects of a Head Start program that used a proven curriculum, the High/Scope educational approach. Using this approach, teachers set up the classroom and the daily routine to encourage children to initiate their own learning activities. Children who attended Head Start classes that used this approach rather than the standard Head Start Curriculum of the time had a significantly higher grade point average throughout their schooling and experienced fewer than half as many criminal convictions by age 22. A recent national survey found that 37 percent of today's Head Start programs use the High/Scope approach.
Principal investigator Sherri Oden said, "These findings confirm that Head Start programs can have important long-term effects on the lives of the children they serve." Said study coauthor Lawrence Schweinhart, "The findings of this large-scale Head Start study point to effects on school success and crime similar to those found in the more intensive High/Scope Perry Preschool Study." Study coauthor and High/Scope president David Weikart added, "This study strengthens the evidence that early childhood programs need a high-quality, educational approach to have positive effects on children's lives."
Selected outside experts contributed to the study's analysis and interpretation of findings. Analyses by Sue Marcus of the University of Pennsylvania and Yu Xie of the University of Michigan adjusted for the backgrounds of the Head Start participants, who started out slightly worse off than those who did not participate in Head Start. The book also includes commentaries by leading scholars. Harvard University professor Sheldon White, who chaired the study's advisory panel, commented that "this report offers recommendations for future Head Start research that seem like excellent rubrics of a program of such studies." Yale University's Edward Zigler and Sally Styfco noted "A prize from [this] study is the encouragement it provides. The investigators show us that the obstacles to longitudinal research can be overcome and enough good data collected to allow reasonable conclusions. The findings confirm that we are on the right track in deploying comprehensive interventions and advocating for high-quality services."
Overall, Into Adulthood provides a pattern of findings, a system of data collection methods, and an array of statistical analysis models that provide useful guidance and direction to future Head Start research.
Early Head Start Benefits Children and Families: Research to Practice Brief, April 2006
Research to Practice: Preliminary Findings from the Early Head Start Prekindergarten Followup, April 2006