About this research Brief
This ASPE Research Brief presents a summary of what is known about the impacts of high-quality public early care and education programs on children's development.
The content originated at research meetings convened by Deborah Phillips at the Foundation for Child Development and Georgetown University. The brief was prepared by ASPE's Taryn Morrissey, Lindsey Hutchison, and Kimberly Burgess, with substantial input from David Deming and William Gormley.
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Introduction
Research consistently finds that high-quality early care and education (ECE) programs promote children's school readiness and other positive outcomes. This brief describes what's known about the short- and long-term impacts of large public (i.e., at-scale) ECE programs in the United States for children prior to kindergarten entry тАУ including what key features of programs lead to the best outcomes, and how to sustain program benefits as children grow older. This brief does not include the many smaller ECE programs, including model or demonstration programs in the U.S. and abroad, that have also been evaluated; please see other reports for information on the short- and long-term impacts of these programs.
"Fadeout" of ECE impacts refers to the diminishing effect sizes of ECE attendance on children's test scores over time, as children age. One possible explanation for fadeout may be that non-participating children actually "catch up" over time, suggesting that the term "convergence" may be more appropriate.
http://emlab.berkeley.edu/users/cle/secnf/Almond_Currie.pdf.; Gormley, W., Gayer, T., Phillips, D., & Dawson, B. (2005). The Effects of Universal Pre-K on Cognitive Development. Developmental Psychology, 41, 872-884.; Gormley, W., Phillips, D., & Gayer, T. (2008). Preschool programs can boost school readiness. Science, 320, 1723-1724.; Hustedt, J., Barnett, W. S., Jung, K., & Figueras, A. (2008). Impacts of New Mexico PreK on Children's School Readiness at Kindergarten Entry: Results from the Second Year of a Growing Initiative. National Institute for Early Education Research, Rutgers University. http://nieer.org/resources/research/NewMexicoRDD0608.pdf.; Lipsey, M. W., Hofer, K. G., Dong, N., Farran, D. C., & Bilbrey, C. (2013). Evaluation of the Tennessee Voluntary Prekindergarten Program: End of Pre-K Results from the Randomized Control Design (Research Report). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University, Peabody Research Institute.; Weiland, C., & Yoshikawa, H. (2013). Impacts of a prekindergarten program on children's mathematics, language, literacy, executive function, and emotional skills. Child Development. 84, 2112-2130.; Wong, et al. (2008).