2. Inequality Starts Before Kindergarten

3. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), Longitudinal 9-Month–Kindergarten 2007 Restricted-Use Data File.

4. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), Longitudinal 9-Month–Kindergarten 2007 Restricted-Use Data File.

5. Trends in Early Childhood Education

6. Percentage of 3- and 4-Year-Olds Enrolled in School
Source: October Current Population Surveys

7. Percentage of 3- and 4-Year-Olds Enrolled in School
Kindergarten
Pre-School
Source: October Current Population Surveys

8. Percentage of 3- and 4-Year-Olds Enrolled in School
Part-Day
Full-Day
Source: October Current Population Surveys

9. Percentage of 3- and 4-Year-Olds Enrolled in School
Private
Public
Source: October Current Population Surveys

10. Not All Early Childhood Education is the Same

11. Source: National Center for Education Statistics. 2014
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Digest of Education Statistics: Washington, DC: US Department of Education. (Table )

12. Source: National Center for Education Statistics. 2014
Source: National Center for Education Statistics Digest of Education Statistics: Washington, DC: US Department of Education. (Table )

13. Summary
More kids enrolled in early childhood education
Inequalities in quality of that education
Inequalities in early childhood outcomes

19. How can we assess program effects?

20. How can we assess program effects
How can we assess program effects? Should we invest more in early childhood education … to raise achievement and reduce gaps? Would it pay off?

21. Methods for Assessing Program Effectiveness
Statistical adjustment
Regression discontinuities
Randomized control trials

22. Statistical Adjustment Design

23. Example: What is the effect of winning a scholarship on whether you graduate from college?

24. Scholarship No Scholarship Mean ACT 23 19 Graduated 75% 50%

28. Use “statistical adjustment” techniques Find that Head Start is associated with… …better high school completion rates …higher earnings …lower incarceration rates

29. Regression Discontinuity Design

30. Example: What is the effect of winning a scholarship on whether you graduate from college?

31. 80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
GRADUATION RATE
ACT SCORE

32. 80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
GRADUATION RATE
ACT SCORE

33. 80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
GRADUATION RATE
ACT SCORE

39. Experimental Design

40. Example: What is the effect of winning a scholarship on whether you graduate from college?

42. “The Head Start Impact Study was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 84 grantee/delegate agencies and included nearly 5,000 newly entering, eligible 3- and 4-year old children who were randomly assigned to either: (1) a Head Start group that had access to Head Start program services or (2) a control group that did not have access to Head Start, but could enroll in other early childhood programs or non-Head Start services selected by their parents. Data collection began in fall 2002 and continued through 2006, following children from program application through the spring of their 1st grade year.”

49. “In sum, this report finds that providing access to Head Start has benefits for both 3-year olds and 4-year-olds in the cognitive, health, and parenting domains, and for 3-year-olds in the social-emotional domain. However, the benefits of access to Head Start at age four are largely absent by 1st grade for the program population as a whole. For 3-year-olds, there are few sustained benefits”

50. Five Kinds of Programs and Their Effects

51. 1. Head Start

52. Head Start Impact Study (RCT)
Small to moderate short-term effects of cognitive skills
Few impacts of behavior or socio-emotional outcomes
Modest short-terms effects on parenting

53. Regression Discontinuity Study

55. Statistical Adjustment Studies

56. Head Start is associated with… …better high school completion rates …higher earning …lower incarceration rates

58. Head Start is associated with… …better high school completion rates …higher earnings

60. Head Start is associated with… …higher earnings Effects are largest among… …blacks …the children of lower-education parents …children exposed to better funded Head Start programs

61. Head Start is associated with positive outcomes, but Head Start kids still score well below national averages

62. 2. Early Head Start

63. Provides child development services to low-income pregnant women and families with young children under age three Begun in 1994 as an extension of Head Start, the program promotes healthy prenatal outcomes; the health, cognitive and language development and socio-emotional well-being of infants and toddlers; and family development

65. RCT Study of Early Head Start (EHS) EHS resulted in… …modestly better cognitive and language skills …modestly better socio-emotional outcomes …better parenting practices, fewer siblings

66. RCT Study of Early Head Start (EHS) Effects of EHS were more pronounced for Latino, African American families

67. RCT Study of Early Head Start (EHS) Positive effects of EHS as compared to control group, but outcomes nowhere near national averages

68. 3. State Pre-K Programs

69. State-funded, classroom-based educational services to young children, typically four-year-old children. Some programs are for low income children or others at risk of entering school unprepared while some are universally open to all children

71. No RCT Studies

72. Evidence from Regression Discontinuity Designs: State programs
Evidence from Regression Discontinuity Designs: State programs... …have moderate effects on cognitive skills …no effects on behavioral outcomes

74. 4. Model Early Childhood Programs

75. The Abecedarian Project Very intensive intervention enrolling children in a full-day, full-year program from infancy through kindergarten Center-based program, low child-teacher ratios (e.g, 6:1 for preschoolers), supplemented by home visits during the first three years

77. RCT Evidence from ~100 Participants Strong effects on special education placement, grade retention, high school graduation, IQ Long-lasting effects on educational attainment, earnings, teen parenting, and criminal activity

78. High Scope/Perry Preschool Program Enrolled 3- and 4--year-old children at risk for academic failure in 5-day a week preschool classes that operated during the academic year Curriculum designed to support children’s self-initiated learning; weekly home visits

80. RCT Evidence from ~1,500 Participants Strong effects on special education placement, grade retention, high school graduation Long-lasting effects on educational attainment, earnings, and criminal activity

81. Chicago Child-Parent Centers Provided a half-day, center-based preschool program at twenty centers run by the Chicago Public Schools

84. RCT Evidence Strong effects on special education placement, grade retention, high school graduation Long-lasting effects on educational attainment, earnings, and criminal activity

85. 5. Nurse Home Visit Programs

86. Home visits to low-income, first-time mothers, starting during pregnancy and continuing through the child’s second birthday Curriculum focuses on healthy behaviors to improve pregnancy outcomes; 2) parenting skills to improve child health and development; and 3) plans for the mother’s life (delaying second pregnancies, finishing school, getting a job)

87. RCT’s in Elmira, New York; Memphis, Tennessee; and Denver, Colorado Positive effects on birth outcomes Positive effects on children’s IQ and achievement among mothers who scored low on measures of IQ, mental health, and self-confidence

88. RCT’s in Elmira, New York; Memphis, Tennessee; and Denver, Colorado Positive impacts on children’s school achievement through age 9 in Memphis At age 15, nurse-visited children in Elmira had 59 percent fewer arrests than children not visited by nurses, as well as fewer convictions

89. Cost-Benefit Analyses

90. Cost-Benefit Analyses Abecedarian Program $3 Chicago Child-Parent Center $7 Perry Preschool $5 to $17 Nursing Home Visits $3