Scientific Research

(alphabetically by title)

"A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Universally-Accessible Pre-Kindergarten Education in Texas"
The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University
The authors say: "Our analysis of the relative costs and benefits of a high-quality universally-accessible pre-kindergarten program suggests that even under very conservative assumptions, the benefits of such a program in Texas greatly outweigh its costs."

"The Economics of Investing in Universal Preschool Education in California"
RAND Corporation
RAND says: "Investing public money to make preschool available to every 4-year-old in California would generate an estimated $2 to $4 in benefits for every dollar spent."

"The Effects of Oklahoma's Universal Pre-K Program on School Readiness" (Executive Summary)
Center for Research on Children in the United States, Georgetown University
The authors say: "For students as a whole, the overall effects of the Tulsa pre-K program are: a 52 percent gain in the Letter-Word Identification test score; a 27 percent gain in the Spelling test score; and a 21 percent gain in the Applied Problems test score."

"The Effects of State Prekindergarten Programs on Young Children's School Readiness in Five States"
National Institute for Early Education Research
NIEER says: "The study finds that children attending state-funded pre-k programs in the five states (Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia) gained significantly regardless of ethnic background or economic circumstances."

"The Effects of Universal Pre-K on Cognitive Development"
Center for Research on Children in the United States, Georgetown University
Published in Developmental Psychology, November 2005
The publisher says: "The authors conclude that Oklahoma's universal pre-K program has succeeded in enhancing the school readiness of a diverse group of children."

"Giant Steps for the Littlest Children: Progress in the Sixth Year of the Abbott Preschool Program"
Early Learning Improvement Consortium
The authors say: "Data collected over six years show sustained and dramatic improvement in the quality of Abbott preschool education and indicates substantial effects for the preschool program for children’s learning."

"Is More Better? The Effects of Full-Day vs. Half-Day Preschool on Early School Achievement"
National Institute for Early Education Research
The authors say: "Children who attended an extended-day, extended-year preschool program experienced greater improvement in test scores compared to peers who attended half-day programs. The difference in performance gains over time was evident for measures of both verbal and mathematic abilities."

"Prekindergarteners Left Behind: Expulsion Rates in State Prekindergarten Systems"
Walter S. Gilliam, Ph.D.
The author says: "Prekindergarten students are expelled at a rate more than three times that of their older peers in the K-12 grades."

"Preliminary Rural Analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Cohort"
National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives, Mississippi State University
Rural Early Childhood says: "Rural children are 60 percent more likely than non-rural children to be placed in special education in kindergarten."

Research Briefs & Policy Guides

(alphabetically by title)

"Achieving a High-Quality Preschool Teacher Corps: A Focus on California"
National Council of La Raza
The author says: "The discussion identifies the critical issues related to building a diverse teacher workforce, highlights promising efforts currently under way, and provides recommendations for achieving a highly-trained and diverse preschool workforce in California."

"All Together Now: State Experiences in Using Community-Based Child Care to Deliver Pre-Kindergarten"
The Center for Law and Social Policy
The authors say: "This paper studies the emergence of the mixed delivery model, in which prekindergarten is delivered in community-based settings and schools."

"Building the Foundation for Bright Futures"
National Governors Association Task Force on School Readiness
The authors say: "The National Governors Association Task Force on School Readiness sought to identify actions that governors and states can take to support families, schools, and communities in their efforts to ensure that all children start school ready to reach their full potential."

"A Center Piece of the PreK Puzzle: Providing State Prekindergarten in Child Care Centers"
National Women's Law Center
The authors say: "As state-funded prekindergarten investments continue to grow across the country, it is more important than ever that policy makers take advantage of existing child care and other early childhood settings to offer families - especially families with parents in the workforce - options that can meet their diverse needs."

"Early Childhood Education for All: A Wise Investment"
Legal Momentum's Family Initiative and the MIT Workplace Center
The authors say: "This is the first national report to pull together scholarly research, economic development studies and the experience of state-level initiatives to make the case for investing in early care and education as an economic driver."

"Early Childhood Interventions: Proven Results, Future Promise"
RAND Corporation
RAND says: "The authors consider the potential consequences of not investing additional resources in the lives of children, the range of early intervention programs, the demonstrated benefits of interventions with high-quality evaluations, the features associated with successful programs, and the returns to society associated with investing early in the lives of disadvantaged children."

"The Economic Benefits of High-Quality Early Childhood Programs: What Makes the Difference?"
The Committee for Economic Development and the Families and Work Institute
The author says: "This paper reflects an effort to determine what exactly about these three early childhood programs [the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project, the Carolina Abecedarian Project, and Chicago's Child-Parent Centers (CPC)] made them so successful, relying, in part, on interviews with the principal investigators of the programs."

"The Economic Impact of Early Child Development Programs in West Virginia"
Center for Business and Economic Research, Marshall University
The authors say: "The evidence is in and it is overwhelming: early child development (ECD) programs are a major tool to be used in economic development for a state or region."

"The Economic Promise of Investing in High-Quality Preschool"
Committee for Economic Development
The authors say: "Preschool is an educational investment that the United States cannot afford to pass by in today’s globally competitive environment."

"The Effects of Investing in Early Education on Economic Growth"
The Brookings Institution
The authors say: "This policy brief analyzes the impact of a high-quality universal preschool policy on economic growth, concluding that such a policy could add $2 trillion to annual U.S. GDP by 2080."

"A Guide to Calculating the Cost of Quality Early Care and Education"
The Finance Project
The authors say: "To help state and community leaders develop effective financing strategies to support early care and education services, The Finance Project designed a process and model for estimating the current cost of early care and education, and the marginal cost of raising the quality of the system. This strategy brief provides a roadmap of the process."

"Leading Early Childhood Learning Communities: What Principals Should Know and Be Able To Do" (Executive Summary)
National Association of Elementary School Principals
NAESP says: "Given the critical nature of learning in the first five years of a child's life, it is imperative that school leaders are actively involved in their communities' early learning programs before students arrive for kindergarten or first grade."

"Meaningful Investments in Pre-K: Estimating the Per-Child Costs of Quality Programs"
The Institute for Women's Policy Research
IWPR says: "We needed to look at the numbers behind quality early education because, as research reveals, quality is key to effectiveness and requires substantial investments."

"Pipelines and Pools: Meeting the Demand for Early Childhood Teachers in Illinois"
Illinois Education Research Council
The authors say: "We find that through a combination of recruitment from the currently qualified Reserve Pool of individuals ... and the current production pipeline of new certificants, Illinois will be able to meet the demand for additional early childhood teachers if Preschool For All adds about 10,000 3- and 4-year olds per year."

"PK-3: What Is It and How Do We Know It Works?"
Foundation for Child Development
The author says: "This brief argues that policy makers can reap a better return on their [pre-kindergarten] investments if they adopt a more expansive view of this first stage of education as a period extending from PK through third grade."

"Power to the People: The Effectiveness of Ballot Measures in Advancing Early Care and Education"
National Women's Law Center
NWLC says: "Analyzing most of the measures that appeared on the ballot through 2003 in which increased investment in early care and education or after-school programs was the central or a significant component, the report concludes that ballot measures can be a useful tool for securing and stabilizing increased funding for early education, child care and after-school programs."

"Promoting Children's Social and Emotional Development Through Preschool"
National Institute for Early Education Research
NIEER says: "This policy report describes the importance of social and emotional development of children, reviews the evidence that high-quality preschool can promote social and emotional development, and describes characteristics of programs most likely to benefit children."

"School Readiness: Closing Racial and Ethnic Gaps"
The Future of Children, vol. 15, no. 1, Spring 2005
The publisher says: "This issue of The Future of Children focuses on children's lives before they get to school in an effort to understand how to close the racial and ethnic gaps in educational outcomes."

"Spending Smarter: A Funding Guide for Policymakers and Advocates to Promote Social and Emotional Health and School Readiness"
National Center for Children in Poverty
NCCP says: "Spending Smarter is designed to help policymakers, agency officials, families, and other advocates maximize the impact of existing funding streams to support positive social and emotional development, early intervention, and treatment strategies that can improve school readiness."

"Stair Steps to Quality: A Guide for States and Communities Developing Quality Rating Systems for Early Care and Education"
The authors say: "Using this guide, leaders from public, private, and nonprofit sectors can work together with child development experts, regulators, and programs to create a [Quality Rating System]."