Policy Brief: Preschool Education and its Lasting Effects: Research and Policy Implications (USA)

In a policy brief Preschool Education and its Lasting Effects: Research and Policy Implications, published by the Education and Public Interest Center (EPIC) (USA), W. Steven Barnett of the National Institute for Early Education Research (USA) has reviewed research on the short- and long-term effects of early education on children in the United States.  He concludes that while preschool can strongly benefit children’s development, the quality of programs varies widely.  He proposes that public financing for preschool education should be restricted to programs which have been proven to work and directed towards disadvantaged children, who reap the greatest benefits from high quality preschool programs.

Barnett's brief offers both warnings and hope. He explains that well-designed preschool programs have been shown to produce long-term improvements in school success-raising students' achievement test scores, reducing the rates of students being retained in grade, reducing the assignment of students to special education programs, and raising student educational attainment. He also finds that these well-designed programs are extraordinarily cost effective, with their long-term payoffs far exceeding their costs.

The strongest evidence suggests that children from all socioeconomic backgrounds reap long-term benefits from preschool, Barnett says. And he notes that the strongest benefits are received by economically disadvantaged children.

However, Barnett also warns that current public policies for child care, Head Start, and state pre-Kindergarten programs offer no assurance that American children will attend such highly effective preschool programs. Some attend no preschool and others attend educationally weak programs. Middle-income children often have the least access to pre-school, while many children in poverty may lack preschool as well.

Although there are exceptions, highly effective preschool programs are generally characterized by small class sizes and the use of well-educated, adequately paid teachers, and Barnett recommends that policymakers stick with those approaches. Preschool teachers should undergo intensive supervision and coaching and "should be involved in a continuous improvement process for teaching and learning." Preschool programs also should regularly monitor children's learning and development.

Because preschool programs vary so much in quality, Barnett counsels against simply raising child care subsidies. Instead, he recommends greater public investment in effective preschool education programs, with a focus on state and local pre-K programs with high standards, which have been found to be the most effective. Such programs "need not be provided by public schools," he notes; public, private, and Head Start programs all "have produced similar results when operating with the same resources and standards as part of the same state pre-K program."

Finally, Barnett recommends that because existing results are strongest when children receive "an earlier start and longer duration" for preschool education, disadvantaged children under four who are likely to benefit most should get first priority in policies to expand access to such programs.

Click here to read the entire brief.