Why Pre-K Works
Click here for a full summary of the long-term effects of Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program, as documented in the International Journal of Child Care and Educational Policy.
Researchers from UAB and the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama have followed the progress of students through eighth grade and found that – regardless of zip code, demographics or school – First Class Pre-K graduates are more likely to be proficient in reading and math on state assessments, less likely to be chronically absent from school, less likely to be held back a grade, less likely to need special education services, and less likely to have a serious disciplinary issue.
What Is High Quality Pre-K?
Since ninety percent of brain development occurs during a child’s first five years of life, early childhood experiences establish either a sturdy or a fragile foundation for everything that follows. High-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten (pre-k) for four-year-olds is an effective early childhood education program that prepares children to succeed socially, emotionally and academically in kindergarten and beyond.
Alabama’s state funded pre-k program, First Class, has been recognized by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) for 16 years in a row for meeting all 10 of the Institute’s research-based benchmarks for quality. NIEER’s Quality Standards Checklist represents a set of minimum policies needed to ensure the effectiveness of preschool education programs in preparing children for success in kindergarten and beyond.
Return On Investment
Every $1 invested in high-quality pre-k produces a return-on-investment (ROI) of approximately $7.
Pre-k results in savings by reducing the need for remedial and special education, welfare, and criminal justice services.
The Chicago Longitudinal Study reported a $7.14 to $1 benefit-cost ratio for high-quality pre-k (Reynolds, Temple, Robertson, & Mann, 2002). The Chicago pre-k programs in this study were similar to Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program in design and cost. Other benefit-cost analyses, such as that of the Perry Preschool Program (Schweinhart, Montie, Xiang, Barnett, Belfield, & Nores, 2005) have produced much higher estimated returns, up to $16 to $1. Taking into consideration these and other studies, the $7 to $1 figure is a reasonable estimate for the returns to public investment in one year of high-quality pre-k.
Resources
Business Case for Pre-K
Alabama School Readiness Alliance brief summarizes the research and gives concrete examples of how Alabama businesses are helping to expand access to high-quality pre-k.
Business Education Alliance
Learn more about the ROI of high-quality pre-k from Alabama’s Business Education Alliance
ReadyNation
A business partnership for early childhood and economic success
Dollars and Sense: A Review of Economic Analyses of Pre-K
Albert Wat, Pre-K Now, May 2007
Economics of Pre-K in Alabama: Results and Analysis
M. Keivan Deravi, Ph. D., Professor of Economics, Auburn Montgomery, October 2007
Timothy Bartik: The economic case for preschool
VIDEO: In this well-argued talk, Timothy Bartik makes the macro-economic case for preschool education — and explains why you should be happy to invest in it, even if you don’t have kids that age (or kids at all). The economic benefits of well-educated kids, it turns out, go well beyond the altruistic. (Filmed at TEDxMiamiUniversity.)
Other Evidence
Numerous evaluations show that high-quality pre-k improves educational achievement
Numerous evaluations have shown that high-quality, voluntary state-funded pre-k programs significantly improve children’s school readiness and lead to significant cognitive and social development among children, higher performance on achievement tests in the early grades and in some cases, reduced retention rates, producing substantial cost savings for school systems.
Source: “The Case for Pre-K in Education Reform: A Summary of Program Evaluation Findings,” The Pew Center on the States. (2010).
High-quality pre-k produces lasting results
A meta-analysis of 123 pre-k studies found that programs with a similar design to Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program produce lasting results. The authors of this study found that the long-term cognitive gains from preschool programs were larger when programs focused on intentional and individualized teaching and small group learning (features of Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program). Programs with this design produced long-term cognitive effects equivalent to one half or more of the achievement gap through the end of high school.
Source: “Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Early Education Interventions on Cognitive and Social Development,” Teachers College Record 112, no. 3 (2010).
