School-based programs shine in new early childhood study

American Teacher, Sep 2008

RESEARCHERS AT GEORGETOWN University added to the convincing body of evidence showing that young children are better prepared to enter school if they participate in high-quality prekindergarten programs.

The Georgetown study looked at 4-year-olds enrolled in school-based prekindergarten programs and Head Start programs in Tulsa, OkIa., and found that children who participated in school-based pre-K programs outperformed peers by nine months in pre-reading skills, seven months in pre-writing skills and five months in pre-math skills. Children in Head Start showed similar advantages, report the researchers, who stress that these programs can boost school readiness for disadvantaged and middle-class children alike. The study findings are reported in the June 27, 2008, issue of Science.

The gains are "above and beyond those that otherwise occur through aging," says William T. Gormley Jr., lead author of the study and co-director of the Center for Research on Children in the U.S. (CROCUS) at Georgetown. "We found that negative effects of family and environmental risk factors can be lessened by a strong preschool program."

The Georgetown team also found that participation in pre-K and Head Start programs was a more powerful predictor of performance on some assessments than factors such as gender, free-lunch eligibility, a mother's education or whether the biological father lives at home.

The state-funded pre-K program in Oklahoma has gained national attention because it is a universal approach, based in the school system, and includes a higher percentage of 4-year-olds than any other state pre-K program. Oklahoma's pre-K program standards are high compared with those of other states, the Georgetown researchers point out, and the state offers relatively high pay and benefits to well-qualified teachers.