Children who were in the Harrisburg Preschool Program for at-risk children scored higher on Pennsylvania System of School Assessment literacy and math tests, even into the fifth grade, according to a study released Wednesday.
“This is important data because it really shows if we improve the quality of education for young children and we begin early ... we really can have long-term effects, even in very disadvantaged communities like Harrisburg,” said Mark Greenberg, one of the investigators from the Penn State Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Healthy Development.
They followed 250 preschool program students who were 3 and 4 years old in 2002 and 2003. The students are now in fifth through seventh grade, he said.
Children who had been in the program scored an average of 1,243 in math, compared to their peers who scored an average of 1,188, according to an evaluation. Thirty-five percent of the program’s former students scored advanced or proficient in math, while only 19 percent of their peers did.
In reading, the children who attended the preschool had an average score of 1,133, compared to a 1,071 average score by their peers. Twenty-two percent of the former preschool students scored advanced or proficient in reading achievement, but only 8 percent of their peers.
“This validates for the masses the importance of early childhood education,” said Jo Pepper, executive director of Capital Area Head Start. “It shows the impact of early childhood education and the success that children, families and ultimately the community will realize in the future.”
The preschool program is a collaborative program involving the Harrisburg School District and Capital Area Head Start program. It is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The study also was funded by the foundation, but was independent, Greenberg said.
In May, the Harrisburg school board voted 9-0 to transfer responsibility and most funding resources for the pre-kindergarten classes to Capital Area Head Start. This saved the district administrative expenses, but officials at the time said it would not reduce the program, which is still housed in city schools.
Harrisburg Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney did not return a phone call for this story.
The study is important because it was a large group and the techniques can be used in other districts, Greenberg said.
“We know from some very very specialized programs in the 1960s and 70s that preschool programs for children with disadvantages have profound impact all the way through adulthood,” Greenberg said.
Those children ultimately saved society money because they were more likely to graduate from high school, have a job and pay taxes and to avoid crime, he said. “But those were very small studies.”
This study followed 250 children from a third of the city’s elementary schools. More than half still live in the district and were still part of the study, Greenberg said. He expects this will be the last year of the study because the Kellogg Foundation has stopped funding it.
The comparison group was students who were a year older. “They were children from the same schools, the same neighborhoods,” Greenberg said. But the preschool program didn’t exist yet when the older students were in preschool. In the comparison group, some students stayed home, some went to unlicensed day care centers and some were in Head Start.
“We’ve been very careful to control for any other factor that could cause the effect. We’re quite confident differences are due to the preschool program,” Greenberg said.
This experiment, a cooperative effort between Head Start and a public school system, can be used in other places, he said.
The program used two co-teachers in a ratio of 16 students to two teachers, with high quality instruction, teacher coaching and heavy parental involvement, Greenberg and Pepper said.
The study shows Harrisburg students can learn and succeed as well as any other children with the right support, former Harrisburg Superintendent Gerald Kohn said at a news conference.
Head Start took over the program July 1.
“We’re very happy that the current Harrisburg School District administration continues to provide the space in the schools for us to continue the programming. We have the same number of students and classrooms as we did last year under the district’s management,” Pepper said.
It’s important to have the prekindergarten program in the schools so parents and children become comfortable in the schools. There’s is more opportunity for teachers to collaborate and share information.
“We didn’t know if the affects of this program would last,” Greenberg said. “It’s very exciting to see that these do last over time, which is part of why we think it’s important in cost savings for communities to invest in early childhood education. It’s not just good for families with children, it’s good economically.”