Highscope Preschool Curriculum Efficacy Study

• In Event: Poster Session 01
  In Poster Session: PS 01 Topic - School Readiness/Childcare

Abstract

A “research-based curriculum” is a common quality indicator for preschool programs and policy-makers. However, we have little empirical research if curricula influence children’s school readiness and classroom quality. The HighScope Preschool Curriculum (HighScope) has its legacy tied to the Perry Preschool Project. This study examined the impact of the HighScope curriculum on low-income preschool children serving classrooms in the state of Alabama.

Using a blocked cluster-randomized controlled trial design, Pre-K sites were assigned into one of two groups: (1) one with immediate training and use of the HighScope curriculum (treatment group) or (2) continuing with “business as usual” curriculum use (control group). The study looked at the impact of the curriculum on child development and classroom quality outcomes. Three key research questions included:

1: Do children who attend Pre-K sites that adopt HighScope exhibit better school readiness outcomes in preschool than children in control sites?
2: Do teachers in Pre-K sites that adopt HighScope exhibit higher quality classroom characteristics than those in control sites?
3: Is HighScope implemented as intended in terms of dosage, sequencing, and quality?

The sample included 88 sites: 47 treatment and 41 control. The treatment had 73 classrooms and 163 teachers; 63 classrooms and 139 teachers in the control. An average of 15 students per site participated in the study. The number of Pre-K classrooms within a site ranged from one to eight; 71% of sites had only one classroom. Children were assessed the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018. Classroom quality was assessed the fall 2016 and spring 2018.

No statistically significant differences were found at baseline between children and teachers in the control and treatment groups related to a range of characteristics. Lead teachers in the treatment and control sites also were relatively similar in terms of their years of experience teaching Pre-K, their highest degree earned and their race/ethnicity. The child sample was 51% female, 82% in poverty, approximately 4.5 years old at time of assessment, 37% Black, and 52% White. We did not have a differential attrition problem.

Implementation occurred as intended. We found no impacts on child outcomes using a range of measures. We found positive impacts on classroom quality in multiple areas, including instructional support, daily routine, and adult-child interactions by amounts equivalent to between one-half and one full standard deviation. When we measured classroom quality at the end of the full curriculum implementation year (spring 2018), classrooms in the treatment group scored higher than control classrooms on all six of the CLASS and PQA measures. We conclude that First Class Pre-K programs that use the HighScope exhibit higher quality classroom characteristics than those in programs continuing with their current curriculum use and practice.

Unfortunately, the lack of impacts on child outcomes from classroom quality improvement efforts, including the use of curricula, is not surprising in the education field(Jenkins et al., 2019; Garet et al., 2016). We provide discussion questions related the lack of impacts on child outcomes, despite classroom improvement efforts.

Authors

• Eboni C Howard, American Institutes for Research - Illinois
  Presenting Author

• Darrick Yee, American Institutes for Research -Massachusetts
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emily Weinberg, American Institutes for Research - California
  Non-Presenting Author

• Burhan Ogut, American Institutes for Research
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dong Hoon Lee, American Institutes for Research
  Non-Presenting Author