early childhood education: what works and what doesn’t
TRANSCRIPT
Early Childhood Education: What Works and What
Doesn’t
Greg J. DuncanUniversity of California, Irvine
March 7, 2018
Policy levers for Early Childhood Education (ECE)
• Fund slots
• Process quality regulation (e.g., QRIS)
• Curriculum requirements
• Aligning ECE and K-12
Lay of the land for ECE in California
• Major programs and funding streams
• Quality standards
Head Start
CA Preschool
Transitional Kindergarten
Prop 98
General Fund
Are we at capacity?
Age Percent of CA eligible population enrolled in
subsidized ECE
0-3 14%3 year olds 38%4 year olds 69%
• Policy option: fund more slots –what does the evidence say?
A number of recent ECE evaluations suggest that funding the right kinds of
slots could increase school readiness
Evidence on funding more slots:
Other policy levers for promoting school readiness
• Process quality regulation (e.g., QRIS)
• Curriculum requirements and coaching
Other policy levers for promoting school readiness
• Process quality regulation (e.g., QRIS)
• Curriculum requirements and coaching
• Policy option: improve quality with more regulation or better curricula – what does the evidence say?
Process Regulation Policy Lever
• Star-type ratings for quality based on structural characteristics and classroom observations (ECRS, CLASS)
• No strong evidence that process quality improves school readiness substantially
Curriculum Policy Lever
Types of curricula
• Whole-child (used in 75% of Head Start and 40% of pre-K classrooms; called “Constructivist” by some)
• Content-specific (e.g., math or literacy) (used in ~20% of Head Start and pre-K classrooms; not “Direct Instruction”)
• Locally-developed
Curriculum Policy Lever
Types of curricula
• Whole-child (used in 75% of Head Start and 40% of pre-K classrooms; called “Constructivist” by some)
• Content-specific (e.g., math or literacy) (used in ~20% of Head Start and pre-K classrooms; not “Direct Instruction”)
• Locally-developed
-0.25
0.00
0.25
0.50Di
ffere
nce
in S
tand
ard
Devi
atio
n U
nits
Impacts of Various Curricula on Academic Outcomes
Whole child
curricula vs. locally developed
Source: Nguyen’s (2016)
Math vs.
whole-child
Literacy vs.
whole child
Math + literacy
vs. whole-child
ns
-0.25
0.00
0.25
0.50Di
ffere
nce
in S
tand
ard
Devi
atio
n U
nits
Impacts of Various Curricula on Academic Outcomes
Whole child
curricula vs. locally developed
Source: Nguyen’s (2016)
Math vs.
whole-child
Literacy vs.
whole child
Math + literacy
vs. whole-child
ns
-0.25
0.00
0.25
0.50Di
ffere
nce
in S
tand
ard
Devi
atio
n U
nits
Impacts of Various Curricula on Academic Outcomes
Whole child
curricula vs. locally developed
Source: Nguyen’s (2016)
Math vs.
whole-child
Literacy vs.
whole child
Math + literacy
vs. whole-child
Curriculum Policy Lever
• Mandated (whole-child) curricula do not appear to work
• Stronger evidence that academically-focused curricula do promote school readiness
Best bets for policies that promote school readiness
For short-run impacts, worry about curriculum and less about classroom structure
Go for a play-based academically-oriented curriculum that also develops socioemotional skills – Boston PreK as a model?
Short- vs. Long-run Effectiveness:
Can today’s programs produce long-run
gains???
Probably not without close coordination with K-
12 schooling
.63 sd
0.00
0.25
0.50
0.75
4 5 6 7 8 9 10Age
Building Blocks Math Impacts
Solid marker p<.05
.63 sd
0.00
0.25
0.50
0.75
4 5 6 7 8 9 10Age
Building Blocks Math Impacts
Solid marker p<.05
Fade out in cognitive impacts in 67 ECE studies
0.23
0.10 0.090.05 0.06
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0 0-1 1-2 2-4 4+
Effe
ct si
ze in
sdun
its
Years since end of treatment
Solid marker denotes p<.05. Source: Li et al. (2017)
End of program
Huge disappointment
Why the fadeout/catch-up?
• Need to teach basic skills AND provide early-grade “charging stations” for pre-K skills
• Need curriculum alignment and coaching how to teach children with different math skills
• Academic skills taught in pre-K are quickly learned in K
Non-solutions:
• Turn preschool into a stressful, worksheet-laden, regimented mimi-elementary school
Possible ways of sustaining ECE impacts:
• Train preschool and early-grade teachers to teach numeracy and literacy
• Use proven play-based pre-K curricula
• Integrate and (co-locate?) preschool and K-3 instruction
• Focus on Common Core-type learning goals and use preschool to prepare children for them
• Deborah Stipek, SRCD Social Policy Brief, 2017
