This careful study of over 700 children shows that pre-K shows no sustained academic improvement. This recent study confirms earlier studies. A summary from the Executive summary appears here and the link to the full report below.
N. Szajnberg, MD
“… we found that the effects of TN‐VPK on the WJ achievement measures observed at the end of the pre‐k year had greatly diminished by the end of the kindergarten year and the differences between participants and nonparticipants were no longer statistically significant. The only exception was a marginally significant difference on Passage Comprehension with nonparticipants showing higher scores at the end of the kindergarten year than TN‐VPK participants. Similarly, at the end of first grade, there were no statistically significant differences between TN‐VPK participants and nonparticipants on the WJ measures with one exception. There was a significant difference that favored the nonparticipant group on the Quantitative Concepts subscale. These diminished effects were not entirely unexpected in light of the findings in other longitudinal studies of the effects of early childhood programs on economically disadvantaged children. For preschool programs, a typical finding is that the cognitive effects are not sustained for very long after the end of the program. Though none of those other studies investigated the effects of a single year of a scaled up state‐funded public prek.
Click Here to Read: valuation of the Tennessee Voluntary Prekindergarten Program:Kindergarten and First Grade Follow‐Up Results from the Randomized Control Design Research Report by Mark W. Lipsey, Ph.D Kerry G. Hofer, Ph.D. Nianbo Dong, Ph.D. Dale C. Farran, Ph.D. and Carol Bilbrey, Ph.D.