Expanding Preschool Opportunities in Maryland: Evaluating Outcomes of the Federal Preschool Expansion Grant Program

• In Event: 3-150 - Promoting School Readiness in Low-Income Children: Evaluations of Preschool Expansion Grants in Three States

Integrative Statement

Maryland was one of the first states to receive funding for expanding preschool opportunities for children from low-income families through the federally funded Preschool Expansion Grant (PEG) program. The evaluation of specific outcomes for this program has been conducted via both state-wide analyses as well as a more focused study of a subset of students in a single Maryland school district through a regression discontinuity design (RDD).
The statewide study consisted of: 1) a comparison of performance on state mandated kindergarten readiness assessments (KRA) for children enrolled in PEG funded preschool programs with children who were in home or informal care; 2) follow-up assessments on literacy and mathematics measures at the end of 1st grade in three school districts; 3) a statewide parent satisfaction survey; and 4) focus group interviews with parents, teachers, and administrators about their perceptions of the PEG expansion programs.
Children attending PEG expansion programs (n = 519) scored significantly higher than children in home or informal care (n = 519) on the overall KRA (p <.001), as well as on each subdomain, including language and literacy (p <.001), math (p <.001), social foundations (p <.001), and physical development (p <.001). KRA performance differences were also found for race, gender, and IEP and ELL status on the overall score and on some subdomains.
Three of the state’s 24 school districts also participated in first grade follow-up assessments in literacy and mathematics. Analyses are currently underway, using administrative data from each of the identified districts, to determine if differences between the comparison groups persist at the end of first grade. These results, along with results from the parent satisfaction survey and the focus group interviews, will be reported.
The district-specific study (RDD) consisted of: 1) an evaluation of the specific impact and reach of PEG programs on students’ achievement (early literacy, language, mathematics problem solving, and executive functioning) by comparing two groups of children split by the age-based cutoff for program enrollment specified by the state of Maryland; and 2) pre- and post-test analyses to evaluate within-student gains based on PEG program participation among one group of children.
All data for the RDD have been collected, including assessment scores from the treatment group after 1 year of PEG program participation (n = 511) and from the comparison group (n = 553). Additionally, baseline assessment data were collected from the treatment group before entering PEG programs (n = 560). Preliminary analyses indicate that children who participated in PEG programs scored significantly higher than the comparison group on language, t(1050) = 5.56, p <.001, and executive functioning, t(1056) = 17.34, p <.001, assessments (also see Figure 1 for group differences in language based on various bandwidths of child’s birthdate from the cut-off date for program enrollment). Preliminary analyses for early literacy and mathematics problem solving are in progress. Further analyses for all assessments, including the RDD analyses, are in progress and will be completed prior to December 2018.

Authors

• Elisa L. Klein, University of Maryland, College Park
  Presenting Author

• Brenda Jones-Harden, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jacquelyn Gross, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bonnie Brett, University of Maryland
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christy Tirrell-Corbin, University of Maryland, College Park
  Non-Presenting Author