A Deeper Dive into Perry Preschool: The Influence of Teacher’s Home-based Visits in Children’s Learning

• In Event: Untold Lessons from History: Teacher Interviews and Archival Records from the Perry and Abecedarian Projects

Abstract

Objectives
This paper highlights the important role of HighScope Perry Preschool Project (PPP) teacher visits, or the home-based component of the PPP, in extending and solidifying lessons learned in classrooms. By comparing teachers’ documentations of what happened during teacher visits (visit logs) and classroom small group records, we attempt to better understand the rich experiences that PPP provided, which may have led to children’s successful long-term outcomes.
Perspectives
The PPP is a landmark randomized control study that established evidence of significant lifetime benefits of early education (e.g., Schweinhart et al., 2005). It began in 1962 to support the academic success of low-income African American children living in a single restricted neighborhood of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Children who attended Perry Preschool were more likely to complete high school, be employed, and have higher earnings than children with no preschool. They were less likely to be incarcerated, experience teenage pregnancy, or rely on public assistance. Positive impacts were found with children of participants and with siblings (Heckman & Karapakula., 2019). While some researchers dismiss the significance of PPP, pointing to reduced relevance to the current context, this paper revisits the historical significance of PPP, with focus on teacher visits, and lessons we continue to learn.
Methods
We deductively coded the activity content documented in the weekly teachers’ visit logs (which included home visits and outings) and small group classroom records (which included in-class lessons and field trips) for the 1964-1965 school year (or Wave 3 of PPP) using categories developed for Author et al. (2025). This resulted in data from 13 treatment children.
Data sources
We analyzed 391 teachers’ visit logs. The number of logs per child ranged from 13 to 44. In addition, we examined 192 classroom small group records. The latter data source is described in Paper 2 of this proposed paper symposium.
Results
The visit logs showed that teachers covered a variety of topics, with emphasis on children’s ability to observe, classify, and speak. This focus aligns with the results from Paper 2 using small group classroom records. Sixty-four percent of teacher visits took place at children’s homes (home visits) engaging families, and 36% were community outings (field trips). Preliminary findings show that 25 to 100 percent of the content covered each month during teachers’ visits extended those addressed in small group activity records (see Table 1 for October/November). Both the outings (during teacher visits) and field trips (during class small groups) exposed children to worlds beyond their immediate neighborhoods. Results also demonstrate the importance of building strong home-school-community connections.
Significance
Perry teachers intentionally provided rich learning experiences via home-based visits that built on classroom-based lessons white engaging families and communities. Given PPP was initiated during the segregated civil rights era, we discuss the need to situate studies within a historical context to identify kernels of impact that expand children’s worlds, enhance equity, and sustain relevance across time. We present examples from unpublished logs and records (see attached sample home visit log).

Authors

• Tomoko Wakabayashi, Oakland University

• Jill Claxton, HighScope Educational Research Foundation