Examining High School Outcomes of Denver Preschool Program Participants: Are there Long-Term Associations?

• In Event: Early Childhood Impacts

Abstract

To date, much of the research on the effectiveness of preschool over the longer-term have focused on targeted programs geared toward lower-income children (Blau, 20201). Yet little is known about long-term effects of universal programs open to all age-eligible children, in part, because most were implemented relatively recently.

One long-running universal preschool access program is the Denver Preschool Program (DPP). First established in 2006, it is a taxpayer-funded initiative that provides a tuition credit to all families of 4-year-old children living in Denver. The tuition credit is scaled on family income, hours of preschool enrolled, and the quality of the preschool families select for their child, with lower-income children in higher-quality programs full-time receiving the largest tuition credit. Earlier evaluations found positive effects of the DPP on children's short- and medium-term outcomes (Authors, 2021, 2024), but only recently have the earliest cohorts reached high school to allow for an examination of longer-term outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine whether there is a relationship between DPP participation and high school outcomes.

Analytic approach

We received data from Denver Public School (DPS) for first-time kindergarteners enrolled between 2009-10 through 2011-12, and followed them through high school graduation between the years of 2021-22 through 2023-24. This encompassed three cohorts that represented nearly 28% of the original cohorts for  both DPP and non-DPP participants.

We examined SAT scores, number of AP courses taken, number of AP courses passed, and high school graduation. DPS also provided student demographic data at both kindergarten and 12th grade, including gender, race/ethnicity, ELL status, special education status, whether the student was eligible to receive free- or reduced-price lunch, and whether the student was an overage kindergartener. Additionally, we obtained children’s performance on a literacy test administered at kindergarten entry.

We used multiple imputation to address missing data. We generated propensity weights via a generalized boosted model to render the DPP and non-DPP participants more similar. We then used multiple or logistic regressions to estimate the relationship between DPP participation and high school outcomes. We adjusted standard errors to account for the clustered nature of our data. Because we lacked a baseline measure for the comparison group at preschool entry, we took a conservative approach and included children’s literacy performance at kindergarten entry in our propensity models. Thus, our model yields a lower-bound estimate of DPP associations. We bounded our results to estimate the effect of not having a baseline measure of achievement.

 

Results and Significance

Our preliminary results suggest that DPP participants showed higher SAT math and verbal scores and higher likelihood of graduating from high school. There were no differences between DPP participants and comparison students with respect to number of AP courses taken and passed. Preliminary bounding results suggest that the DPP sample would need to be replaced with approximately one third of non-DPP children to change interpretations. Initial findings suggest that initiatives that provide universal access to high-quality preschool may have sustained effects that persist into late adolescence and early adulthood.

 

 

Author

• Diana Schaack, University of Colorado Denver
  Presenting Author