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More Research
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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.
http://nieer.org/resources/facts/index.php?FastFactID=6
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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.
http://nieer.org/faq/index.php?TAid=127
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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
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The
Battle Over Head Start: What The Research Shows
W. Steven Barnett
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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.
http://www.highscope.org/Content.asp?ContentId=260
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Early
Head Start Benefits Children and Families: Research to Practice Brief,
April 2006
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Research
to Practice: Preliminary Findings from the Early Head Start
Prekindergarten Followup, April 2006
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