From Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (http://www.papartnerships.org):
In a new report published in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management in December, The Effects of Tulsa’s Pre-K Program on Middle School Student Performance, researchers were able to show that Tulsa, Oklahoma’s pre-k program, which is of comparable quality to Pennsylvania’s, has significant and positive effects on student outcomes and well-being through middle school.
The program, which serves seven out of ten 4-year-olds in Tulsa, has attracted national attention over the years because of the ongoing debate over the benefits of preschool and whether those benefits are long-lasting. William Gormley, a professor of public policy at Georgetown and one of the lead researchers, says the Tulsa findings offer convincing and compelling evidence that they are.
The report highlights a statistically meaningful relationship between high-quality pre-k enrollment in Tulsa and standardized math assessment scores eight years later. There was also direct correlation between pre-k enrollment and enrollment in honors courses eight years later.
The Tulsa Pre-K program also provided a 30 percent decrease in grade retention rates as compared to those students who did not receive a high-quality pre-k experience.
By combining the report data with information on pre-K costs, the authors of the report calculated a benefit/cost ratio of 2.1-to-1. This number captures the crime reduction and adult earnings increase benefits due to pre-k’s effects on grade retention only. Positive effects mediated through other variables, such as improved math test scores, or effects on other outcomes, such as substance abuse, would presumably yield an even higher benefit/cost ratio.
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