What Works Best and For Whom: Treatment Heterogeneity in Long-Term Effects of Early-Care and Education

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

This symposium examines long-term impacts of early-care and education (ECE) and whether impacts vary by child gender, program type, program quality, and family income. To address these questions, participants report new analyses and recent follow-up data from three well-known studies. The first study used the Abecedarian Study to test differential program impacts by gender from 8 to 21 years as well as age 30. Larger impacts were found on academic skills and educational degrees for females and larger impacts on blood pressure for males. These findings replicate previously reported gender moderation findings in the Perry Preschool Study. The second study uses a second well-known dataset, the Tulsa Pre-K Study, to examine effects of public pre-k and Head Start on academic outcomes at the end of high school. Public pre-k, but not Head Start, was associated with fewer absences, lower odds of failing a course or being retained in a grade, and higher odds of enrolling in AP or IB courses. The third study uses the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) to examine associations between high-quality ECE during the first five years and adult outcomes assessed at 26 years. Here, sustained high-quality ECE in the first five years was found to reduce disparities between low- and high-income children in educational attainment and salary. Together, these studies demonstrate lasting but heterogeneous effects of ECE by subgroups (e.g., women and low-income children), program type (e.g., public pre-k vs. Head Start), and program characteristics (e.g., high-quality and sustained access).

Sub Unit

• School Readiness/Childcare

Chair

• Andres Sebastian Bustamante, University of California - Irvine

Discussant

• Deborah A Phillips, Georgetown University

Individual Presentations

• Examining Sex Differences in Abecedarian Impacts - Presenting Author: Margaret Burchinal, University of Virginia - Charlottesville; Non-Presenting Author: Tiffany Jamie Foster, Ohio State University; Non-Presenting Author: Kylie Garber, Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD); Non-Presenting Author: Marketa Burnett, University of Connecticut; Non-Presenting Author: Iheoma U. Iruka, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Does Early Childhood Education Help to Improve High School Outcomes? Results from Tulsa - Presenting Author: Sara Amadon, Child Trends -Maryland; Non-Presenting Author: William T. Gormley, Georgetown University; Non-Presenting Author: Katelyn Romm, George Washington University; Non-Presenting Author: Katherine Magnuson, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Non-Presenting Author: Amy Claessens, University of Chicago

• Adult Outcomes of Sustained Early Childcare and Education: A Pathway Out of Poverty - Presenting Author: Andres Sebastian Bustamante, University of California - Irvine; Non-Presenting Author: Eric Dearing, Boston College; Non-Presenting Author: Henrik D. Zachrisson, University of Oslo; Non-Presenting Author: Deborah Lowe Vandell, University of California - Irvine