CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 137Early Childhood Education and DevelopmentSchool Choice and PerformancePoverty, Education, and Child Welfare

Effects of a statewide pre-kindergarten program on children’s achievement and behavior through sixth grade.

Open access
Durkin, Kelley, Lipsey, Mark W., Farran, Dale C., Wiesen, Sarah E.·2022·Developmental Psychology
DOI 10.1037/dev0001301PMC PMC9716729
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

As state-funded pre-kindergarten (pre-K) programs expand, it is critical to investigate their short- and long-term effects. This article presents the results through sixth grade of a longitudinal randomized control study of the effects of a scaled-up, state-supported pre-K program. The analytic sample includes 2,990 children from low-income families who applied to oversubscribed pre-K program sites across the state and were randomly assigned to offers of admission or a wait list control. Data through sixth grade from state education records showed that the children randomly assigned to attend pre-K had lower state achievement test scores in third through sixth grades than control children, with the strongest negative effects in sixth grade. A negative effect was also found for disciplinary infractions, attendance, and receipt of special education services, with null effects on retention. The implications of these findings for pre-K policies and practices are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/dev0001301

Cites

2 of 2 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A few programs, for example $5-a-day childcare in Quebec and state-funded pre-K in Tennessee, have been found to have negative effects on children's skill acquisition.

    “A few programs, for example $5-a-day childcare in Quebec and state-funded pre-K in Tennessee, have instead been found to have negative effects on children's skill acquisition (Baker, Gruber, andMilligan 2008, Durkin et al. 2022).”

    From Educational Inequality* (2022) · cites this paper as Durkin et al. 2022

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 50

  1. Angrist JD, Imbens GW, & Rubin DB (1996). Identification of causal effects using instrumental variables. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 91(434), 444– 455. 10.2307/2291629 · DOI · Paper page
  2. Ansari A, & Crosnoe R (2015). Immigration and the interplay of parenting, preschool enrollment, and young children’s academic skills. Journal of Family Psychology, 29(3), 382– 393. 10.1037/fam0000087 25938712 PMC4461446 · DOI
  3. Ansari A, Pianta RC, Whittaker JE, Vitiello V, & Ruzek. E (2021). Enrollment in public-prekindergarten and school readiness skills at kindergarten entry: Differential associations by home language and program characteristics. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 54, 60– 71. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.07.011 · DOI
  4. Bailey DH, Duncan GJ, Cunha F, Foorman BR, & Yeager DS (2020). Persistence and fade-out of educational-intervention effects: Mechanisms and potential solutions. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 21(2), 55– 97. 10.1177/1529100620915848 33414687 PMC7787577 · DOI
  5. Bailey D, Duncan GJ, Odgers CL, & Yu W (2017) Persistence and fadeout in the impacts of child and adolescent interventions. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 10(1), 7– 39. 10.1080/19345747.2016.1232459 29371909 PMC5779101 · DOI
  6. Barnett S, Epstein DJ, Friedman AH, Sansanelli RA, & Hustedt JT (2009). The state of preschool 2009: State preschool yearbook (Tennessee pp. 132– 133). The National Institute for Early Education Research [NIEER]. Rutgers University. http://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/200920yearbook-1.pdf
  7. Barnett WS, Jung K, Friedman-Krauss A, Frede EC, Nores M, Hustedt JT, Howes C, & Daniel-Echols M (2018). State prekindergarten effects on early learning at kindergarten entry: An analysis of eight state programs. AERA Open, 4(2), 1– 16. 10.1177/2332858418766291 · DOI
  8. Bartik TJ, & Hershbein B (2018). Pre-k in the public schools: Evidence from within U.S. states Upjohn Institute Working Paper 18– 285. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. 10.17848/wp18-285 · DOI
  9. Bassok D, & Engel M (2019). Early childhood education at scale: Lessons from research for public policy and practice. AERA Open, 5(1), 1– 7. 10.1177/2332858419828690 · DOI
  10. Cascio EU, & Schanzenbach DW (2013). The impacts of expanding access to high quality preschool education. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Fall, 127– 192. 10.3386/w19735 · DOI
  11. Coelho V, Aström F, Nesbitt K, Sjöman M, Farran D, Björck-Äkesson E, Christopher C, Granlund M, Almqvist L, Grande C, & Pinto A (2021). Preschool practices in Sweden, Portugal, and the United States. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 55, 79– 96. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.11.004 · DOI
  12. Coley RL, Votruba-Drzal E, Collins M, & DeMeo Cook K (2016). Comparing public, private, and informal preschool programs in a national sample of low-income children, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 36, 91– 105. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2015.11.002 · DOI
  13. Deming D (2009). Early childhood intervention and life cycle skill development: Evidence from Head Start. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 1(3), 111– 134. 10.1257/app.1.3.111 · DOI · Paper page
  14. Duncan GJ, Dowsett CJ, Claessens A, Magnuson K, Huston AC, Klebanov P,... Sexton H (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1428– 1446. 10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1428 18020822 · DOI · Paper page
  15. Early DM, Li W, Maxwell KL, & Ponder BD (2019). Participation in Georgia’s pre-k as a predictor of third-grade standardized test scores. AERA Open, 5(2), 1– 16. 10.1177/2332858419848687 · DOI
  16. Farran DC, Meador D, Christopher C, Nesbitt K & Bilbrey L (2017). Data-driven improvement in prekindergarten classrooms: Report from a partnership in an urban district. Child Development, 88, 1466– 1479. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12906 28752921 · DOI
  17. Geary DC, Nicholas A, Li Y, & Sun J (2017). Developmental change in the influence of domain-general abilities and domain-specific knowledge on mathematics achievement: An eight-year longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(5), 680– 693. 10.1037/edu0000159 28781382 PMC5542417 · DOI
  18. Gennetian LA, Morris PA, Bos JM, & Bloom HS (2005). Constructing instrumental variables from experimental data to explore how treatments produce effects. In Bloom H (Ed). Learning more from social experiments: Evolving analytic approaches (pp. 75– 114). Russell Sage Foundation.
  19. Gormley WT Jr., Gayer T, Phillips D, & Dawson B (2005). The effects of universal pre-k on cognitive development. Developmental Psychology, 41(6), 872– 884. 10.1037/0012-1649.41.6.872 16351334 · DOI
  20. Green CS (2020). Interventions to do real-world good: Generalization and persistence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 21(2), 43– 49. 10.1177/1529100620933847 · DOI
  21. Guerrero-Rosada P, Weiland C, McCormick M, Hsueh J, Sachs J, Snow C, & Maier M (2021). Null relations between CLASS scores and gains in children’s language, math, and executive function skills: A replication and extension study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 54, 1– 12. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.07.009 · DOI
  22. Harms T, & Clifford RM (1980). The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
  23. Haskins R (1985). Public school aggression among children with varying day-care experience. Child Development, 56(3), 689– 703. 10.2307/1129759 4006574 · DOI
  24. Hill CJ, Gormley WT, & Adelstein S (2015). Do the short-term effects of a high-quality preschool program persist? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 32, 60– 79. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2014.12.005 · DOI
  25. Hustedt J, Jung K, Friedman-Krauss A, Barnett S & Slicker G (2021). Impacts of the New Mexico pre-k initiative by children’s race/ethnicity. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 54, 194– 203. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2020.09.006 · DOI
  26. Ladd HF, Muschkin CG, & Dodge KA (2014). From birth to school: Early childhood initiatives and third-grade outcomes in North Carolina. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33(1), 162– 187. 10.1002/pam.21734 · DOI
  27. Lipsey MW, Farran DC, & Durkin K (2018). Effects of the Tennessee Prekindergarten Program on children’s achievement and behavior through third grade. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 45, 155– 176. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.03.005 · DOI
  28. Lupina SJ, & Posner MI (2012). The impact of poverty on the development of the brain. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 6, 1– 12. 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00238 22912613 PMC3421156 · DOI
  29. Mendez LMR (2003). Predictors of suspension and negative school outcomes: A longitudinal investigation. New Directions for Youth Development, 2003(99), 17– 33. 10.1002/yd.52 14635432 · DOI
  30. Moffitt TE, Arseneault L, Belsky D, Dickson N, Hancox RJ, Harrington H, Houts R, Poulton R, Roberts BW, Ross S, Sears MR, Thomson WM, & Caspi A (2011). A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety. PNAS, 108(7), 2693– 2698. 10.1073/pnas.1010076108 21262822 PMC3041102 · DOI · Paper page
  31. Montrosse-Moorhead B, Dougherty S, La Salle T, Weiner J, & Dostal H (2019). The overall and differential effects of a targeted prekindergarten program: Evidence from Connecticut. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 48, 134– 145. 10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.02.006 · DOI
  32. Mowen TJ, Brent JJ, & Boman IV JH (2020). The effect of school discipline on offending across time. Justice Quarterly, 37(4), 739– 760. 10.1080/07418825.2019.1625428 34262239 PMC8277153 · DOI
  33. Nesbitt K & Farran DC (2021). Effects of prekindergarten curricula: Tools of the Mind as a case study. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 86(1), 7– 119. 10.1111/mono.12425 PMC7986366 33590487 · DOI
  34. Noltemeyer AL, Ward RM, & Mcloughlin C (2015). Relationship between school suspension and student outcomes: A meta-analysis. School Psychology Review, 44(2), 224– 240. 10.17105/spr-14-0008.1 · DOI
  35. Pages R, Lukes DJ, Bailey DH, & Duncan GJ (2020). Elusive longer-run impacts of Head Start: Replication within and across cohorts. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 42(4), 471– 492. 10.3102/0162373720948884 · DOI
  36. Pearman FA, Springer MP, Lipsey M, Lachowicz M, Swain W, & Farran D (2020). Teachers, schools, and pre-K effect persistence: An examination of the sustaining environment hypothesis. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 13(4), 547– 573. 10.1080/19345747.2020.1749740 33728015 PMC7958941 · DOI
  37. Pion GM, & Lipsey MW (in press). Impact of the Tennessee Voluntary Prekindergarten Program on children’s literacy, language, and mathematics skills: Results from a regression-discontinuity design. AERA Open 10.1177/23328584211041353 · DOI
  38. Preskitt J, Johnson H, Becker D, Ernest J, Fifolt M, Adams J, Strichik T, Ross J, & Sen B (2020). The persistence of reading and math proficiency: The benefits of Alabama’s pre-kindergarten program endure through elementary and middle school. International Journal of Child and Education Policy, 14, 1– 12. 10.1186/s40723-020-00073-3 · DOI
  39. Shannon KA, Scerif G, & Raver CC (2020). Using a multidimensional model of attention to predict low-income preschoolers’ early academic skills across time. Developmental Science, 24(2), 1– 16. 10.1111/desc.13025 32749034 · DOI
  40. Sharpe N, Davis B & Howard M (2017). Indispensable policies and practices for high-quality pre-k: Research and pre-k standards review New America Foundation. https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/policy-papers/indispensable-policies-practices-high-quality-pre-k/
  41. Snow CE, & Matthews TJ (2016). Reading and language in the early grades. The Future of Children, 26(2), 57– 74. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43940581
  42. Steele A, Karmiloff-Smith A, Cornish K, & Scerif G (2012). The multiple subfunctions of attention: Differential developmental gateways to literacy and numeracy. Child Development, 83(6), 2028– 2041. 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2012.01809.x 22804751 · DOI
  43. Todd RM, Cunningham WA, Anderson AA, & Thompson E (2012). Affect-biased attention as emotion regulation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 16(7), 365– 372. 10.1016/j.tics.2012.06.003 22717469 · DOI · Paper page
  44. Troller-Renfree SV, Buzzell GA, & Fox NA (2020). Changes in working memory influence the transition from reactive to proactive cognitive control during childhood. Developmental Science, 23(6), 1– 9. 10.1111/desc.12959 32141641 · DOI
  45. Valentino R (2017). Will public pre-k really close achievement gaps? Gaps in prekindergarten quality between students and across states. American Educational Research Journal, 55(1), 79– 116. 10.3102/0002831217732000 · DOI
  46. Vandell DL, Belsky J, Burchinal M, Steinberg L, & Vandergrift N (2010). Do effects of early child care extend to age 15 years? Results from the NICHD study of early childcare and youth development. Child Development, 81(3), 737– 56. 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01431.x 20573102 PMC2938040 · DOI
  47. Watts T, Duncan GJ, and Rivas M (2019). A reanalysis of impacts of the Tennessee Voluntary Prekindergarten Program (EdWorkingPaper: 19– 28). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: 10.26300/mzk4-jk96 · DOI
  48. Weiland C, Unterman R, Shapiro A, Staszak S, Rochester S, & Martin E (2020). The effects of enrolling in oversubscribed prekindergarten programs through third grade. Child Development 91, 1401– 1422. 10.1111/cdev.13308 31663607 · DOI
  49. Wong VC, Cook TD, Barnett WS, & Jung K (2008). An effectiveness-based evaluation of five state pre-kindergarten programs. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 27(1), 122– 154. 10.1002/pam.20310 · DOI
  50. Yaple ZA, & Yu R, (2020). Functional and structural brain correlates of socioeconomic status. Cerebral Cortex, 30(1), 181– 196. 10.1093/cercor/bhz080 31044253 · DOI

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Durkin, K., Lipsey, M. W., Farran, D. C., & Wiesen, S. E.
Affiliations
Vanderbilt University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Developmental Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2022-03
Volume
58
Issue
3
Pages
470-484
ISSN
  • 0012-1649 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-0599
DOI
10.1037/dev0001301
PMC
PMC9716729
OpenAlex
W4206097100
Cited by
137
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 20 · 2025: 26 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 1
FWCI
62.57
Type
journal article
Language
en
Update notices
correction (2022-06-27)
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Developmental Psychology (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • US Department of Education (R305E090009; R305A210130)
  • US Department of Health and Human Services (R01HD079461-01)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
  • Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare
Keywords
pre-kindergarten, early childhood education, academic performance, student discipline, school attendance, special education services, student retention, low-income children, long-term educational outcomes, waitlist control
MeSH terms
Achievement, Child, Education, Special, Educational Status, Humans, Poverty, Schools

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review