Examining Sustained Benefits of PreK on Academic, Social-emotional, and Executive Functioning Skills in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

• In Event: Do pre-K gains persist? Evidence from four pre-K programs

Abstract

There is a general consensus that children who attend high-quality PreK start kindergarten scoring higher on academic assessments than their peers (Phillips et al., 2017). Yet, questions remain about how long that advantage lasts, whether it varies for different types of skills (e.g., more constrained, finite skills vs. more unconstrained or limitless skills), and the extent to which the pandemic affected the typical PreK boost. The current study leverages data from students who did and did not attend the Boston Public Schools prekindergarten (BPS PreK) program to estimate effects of enrollment on academic, executive functioning, and social-emotional skills in first (pre-pandemic), third (after the pandemic began), and fifth grade.
The BPS PreK program is a full-day, high-quality model that has demonstrated short-term impacts on child outcomes (Weiland & Yoshikawa, 2013). The sample consists of 438 students (243 = BPS PreK attenders; N = 195 non-attenders; 65% eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, 26% Black, 32% Hispanic; 20% Asian; 4% other race) with administrative data in 3rd and 5th grade and direct assessment data in first and fifth grade.
The research team enrolled students during PreK and kindergarten and collected assessments of language (PPVT), literacy (WJ Letter Word ID), math (WJ Applied Problems and REMA), executive functioning (Hearts & Flowers and Digit Span), social-emotional skills (teacher-reported SSIS), and task engagement (Teacher-Child Rating Scale) in the spring of first grade. The pandemic disrupted planned third grade assessments but the team accessed English/Language Arts (ELA) and math state standardized test data and parent reports of social-emotional skills (SSIS) in third grade. The team is currently collecting language, literacy, math, and executive functioning measures in fifth grade that align with first grade as well as the student-reported SSIS. Survey and administrative data have been used to create a rich set of covariates.
To estimate impacts in first and third grade, the team used inverse probability of treatment weighting (the estimates reported here) and multi-level models, evaluating the consistency of results across methods. There were lasting benefits (p < .05) of BPS PreK on language (d = .36), literacy (d = .14), math (WJAP: d = .16; REMA: d = .29), working memory (d = .23), and task engagement (d = .19) at the end of first grade. The magnitude of associations was generally larger for more unconstrained skills (e.g., language) than for more constrained skills (e.g., our literacy measure). There were no lasting benefits on social-emotional skills, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility in first grade. There were also lasting associations between BPS PreK and ELA (d = .18) and math (d = .22) standardized test scores in third grade. The team will next estimate associations between PreK enrollment and fifth grade skills, conducting cross-year comparisons to understand the influence of the pandemic on outcomes.
Findings demonstrate that a high-quality PreK program can continue to benefit children’s skills – and unconstrained skills in particular – across elementary school. Future work will provide evidence on whether those benefits were sustained through fifth grade during a uniquely challenging time.

Authors

• Meghan Patricia McCormick, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City
  Presenting Author

• Christina J Weiland, University of Michigan

• Mirjana Pralica, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City

• Samuel Maves, MDRC

• Cullen MacDowell, MDRC

• Joann Hsueh, MDRC (Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation) - New York City

• Catherine E Snow, Harvard University

• Jason Sachs, Boston Public Schools