Recent growth in subsidized preschool opportunities in the United States for low-income 4-year-old children has allowed federal Head Start programs to fund more slots for 3-year-old children. In turn, when Age-3 Head Start participants turn four, they may choose to switch into one of the many alternative care options or choose to stay in Head Start for a second year.
Objectives:
We analyze a nationally representative sample of Age-3 Head Start participants to examine whether children who stay in Head Start for a second year at Age 4 exhibit greater school readiness and subsequent cognitive and behavioral performance compared with children who switch out of Head Start into alternative care. We also examine differences between children who stay at the same Head Start center at Age 4 with those who switch to a different Head Start center.
Research Design:
Child fixed effects analyses coupled with inverse probability of treatment weights to remove observable, time-invariant differences between Head Start stayers and switchers.
Subjects:
Cohort of Age-3 Head Start attendees from the Head Start Impact Study.
Measures:
Child cognitive and behavioral skills assessed by trained administrators annually at ages 3–7.
Results:
Age-3 Head Start participants’ outcomes do not differ at the end of preschool, kindergarten, or first grade based on their choice of Age-4 program. Staying at the same Head Start center for 2 years may be beneficial for behavioral skills.
Conclusions:
For low-income families, there exist many equally beneficial options to support their children’s school readiness through public preschool programs.
AdamsG.RohacekM. (2010). Child care instability: Definitions, context, and policy implications. (412278). Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
2.
AikensN.KleinA. K.TarulloL. B.WestJ. (2013). Getting ready for kindergarten: Children’s progress during Head Start. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
3.
AnsariA.PurtellK. M.GershoffE. (2016). Classroom age composition and the school readiness of 3- and 4-year-olds in the Head Start program. Psychological Science, 27, 53–63
BarnettW. S. (2011). Effectiveness of early educational intervention. Science, 333, 975–978.
6.
BarnettW. S.CarolanM. E.SquiresJ. H.Clarke BrownK.HorowitzM. (2015). The state of preschool 2014: State preschool yearbook. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research.
7.
BarnettW. S.Friedman-KraussA. H.GomezR. E.HorowitzM.WeisenfeldG. G.SquiresJ. H. (2016). The state of preschool 2015: State preschool yearbook. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research.
8.
BassokD. (2012). Competition or collaboration? Head Start enrollment during the rapid expansion of state pre-kindergarten. Educational Policy, 26, 96–116.
9.
BlairC.RaverC. C. (2015). School readiness and self-regulation: A developmental psychobiological approach. Annual Review of Psychology, 66, 711–731.
10.
BloomH. S.WeilandC. (2015). Quantifying variation in Head Start effects on young children’s cognitive and socio-emotional skills using data from the National Head Start Impact Study. New York, NY: MDRC.
11.
BronfenbrennerU. (1989, April). The developing ecology of human development: Paradigm lost or paradigm regained. Presentation at biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Kansas City, MO.
12.
CarononganP.MoiduddinE.WestJ.VogelC. A. (2014). Children in early Head Start and Head Start: A profile of early leavers. Baby FACES and FACES 2009 research brief. OPRE Report 2014-54. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
13.
ChaudryA.PedrozaJ. M.SandstromH.DanzigerA.GroszM.ScottM.TingS. (2011). Child care choices of low-income working families. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
14.
CurrieJ.ThomasD. (1995). Does Head Start make a difference?The American Economic Review, 85, 341–364.
15.
DomitrovichC. E.MorganN. R.MooreJ. E.CooperB. R.ShahH. K.JacobsonL.GreenbergM. T. (2013). One versus two years: Does length of exposure to an enhanced preschool program impact the academic functioning of disadvantaged children in kindergarten?. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28, 704–713.
16.
DunnL. M.DunnL. M. (1997). Peabody picture vocabulary test—Third edition (PPVT-III). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
17.
ElderG. H. (1998). The life course as developmental theory. Child Development, 69, 1–12.
18.
FabianH. (2007). Informing Transitions. In DunlopA.FabianH. (Eds.) Informing Transitions in the Early Years: Research, Policy, and Practice, pp. 3–20.
19.
FellerA.GrindalT.MiratrixL.PageL. (2016). Compared to what? Variation in the impacts of early childhood education by alternative care-type settings. Annals of Applied Statistics, 10, 1245–1285.
20.
FlavellJ. H. (1988). The development of children’s knowledge about the mind: From cognitive connections to mental representations. In AstingtonJ. W.HarrisP. L.OlsonD. R. (Eds.), Developing theories of mind (pp. 244–267). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
21.
FullerB.HollowayS. D.LiangX. (1996). Family selection of child-care centers: The influence of household support, ethnicity, and parental practices. Child Development, 67, 3320–3337.
22.
GormleyW. T. (2007). Early childhood care and education: Lessons and puzzles. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 26, 633–671.
23.
GormleyW. T.PhillipsD.AdelsteinS.ShawC. (2010). Head Start’s comparative advantage: Myth or reality?Policy Studies Journal, 38, 397–418. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0072.2010.00367.x
24.
HarmsT.CliffordR. M.CryerD. (1998). Early childhood environment rating scale. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
25.
HeckmanJ. J. (2006). Skill formation and the economics of investing in disadvantaged children. Science, 312, 1900–1902.
26.
HeckmanJ. J.IchimuraH.ToddP. (1998). Matching as an econometric evaluation estimator. The Review of Economic Studies, 65, 261–294.
27.
HenryG. T.GordonC. S.RickmanD. K. (2006). Early education policy alternatives: Comparing quality and outcomes of Head Start and state prekindergarten. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 28, 77–99.
28.
HerbstC. M.TekinE. (2010). Child care subsidies and child development. Economics of Education Review, 29, 618–638.
29.
HulseyL. K.AikensN.KopackA.WestJ.MoiduddinE.TarulloL. (2011). Head Start children, families, and programs: Present and past data from FACES(No. 7361). Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research.
30.
JenkinsJ. M.FarkasG.DuncanG. J.BurchinalM. R.VandellD. (2016). Head Start at ages 3 and 4 versus Head Start followed by state pre-k: Which is more effective?Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38, 88–112.
31.
JohnsonA. D.MartinA.Brooks-GunnJ. (2013). Child-care Subsidies and School Readiness in Kindergarten. Child Development, 84, 1806–1822.
32.
KennedyP. (2008). A guide to econometrics (6th ed.). Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.
33.
KhooS.-T.WestS. G.WuW.KwokO.-M. (2006). Longitudinal methods. In EidM.DienerE. (Eds.), Handbook of multimethod measurement in psychology (pp. 301–317). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
34.
KlineP.WaltersC. (2016). Evaluating public programs with close substitutes: The case of Head Start. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 131, 1795–1848.
35.
LeeK. (2011). Impacts of the duration of Head Start enrollment on children’s academic outcomes: Moderation effects of family risk factors and earlier outcomes. Journal of Community Psychology, 39, 698–716.
36.
LiangX.FullerB.SingerJ. D. (2000). Ethnic differences in child care selection: The influence of family structure, parental practices, and home language. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 15, 357–384.
37.
LoebS.FullerB.KaganS. L.CarrolB.CarrollJ. (2004). Child care in poor communities: Early learning effects of type, quality, and stability. Child Development, 75, 47–65.
38.
LudwigJ.MillerD. L. (2007). Does Head Start improve children’s life chances? Evidence from a regression discontinuity design. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122, 159–208.
39.
McCoyD. C.ConnorsM. C.MorrisP. A.YoshikawaH.Friedman-KraussA. H. (2015). Neighborhood economic disadvantage and children’s cognitive and social-emotional development: Exploring Head Start classroom quality as a mediating mechanism. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 32, 150–159.
40.
McCoyD. C.MorrisP. A.ConnorsM. C.GomezC. J.YoshikawaH. (2016). Differential effectiveness of Head Start in urban and rural communities. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 43, 29–42.
41.
MollerA. C.Forbes-JonesE.HightowerA. D. (2008). Classroom age composition and developmental change in 70 urban preschool classrooms. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 741–753.
42.
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2006). Starting strong II: Early childhood education and care. Paris, France: Author.
43.
PerryB.DockettS.PetriwskyjA. (2014). Transitions to school-international research, policy and practice. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
44.
PhillipsD. A.GormleyW. T.LowensteinA. E. (2009). Inside the pre-kindergarten door: Classroom climate and instructional time allocation in Tulsa’s pre-K programs. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24, 213–228.
45.
PumaM.BellS.CookR.HeidC.BroeneP.JenkinsF.…DownerJ. T. (2012). Third grade follow-up to the Head Start Impact Study: Final report. In R. a. E. Office of Planning, Administration for Children and Families (Ed.). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and HUMAN Services.
46.
PumaM.BellS.CookR.HeidC. (2010). Head Start Impact Study. Final report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.
47.
Rimm-KaufmanS. E.PiantaR. C. (2000). An ecological perspective on the transition to kindergarten: A theoretical framework to guide empirical research. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 21, 491–511.
48.
RosenbaumP. R.RubinD. B. (1983). The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects. Biometrika, 70, 41–55.
49.
SandstromH.HuertaS. (2013). The negative effects of instability on child development: A research synthesis. Low-income working families, (Discussion Paper 3). Washington, DC.
50.
ShagerH. M.SchindlerH. S.MagnusonK. A.DuncanG. J.YoshikawaH.HartC. M. (2013). Can research design explain variation in Head Start research results? A metaanalysis of cognitive and achievement outcomes. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 35, 76–95.
51.
SkibbeL. E.ConnorC. M.MorrisonF. J.JewkesA. M. (2011). Schooling effects on preschoolers’ self-regulation, early literacy, and language growth. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 26, 42–49.
52.
TarulloL. B.AikensN.MoiduddinE.WestJ. (2010). A second year in Head Start: Characteristics and outcomes of children who entered the program at age three. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.
53.
U.S. Census Bureau. (1968). Current population survey, October 1968: School enrollment. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census.
54.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2013). Program information report, 1990-2013. Washington, DC: Administration for Children and Families.
55.
VoglerP.CrivelloG.WoodheadM. (2008). Early childhood transitions research: A review of concepts, theory and practice. The Netherlands: Bernard van Leer Foundation. pp. 1–4.
56.
VygotskyL. S. (1978). Interaction between learning and development. Readings on the Development of Children, 23, 34–41.
57.
WaltersC. R. (2015). Inputs in the production of early childhood human capital: Evidence from Head Start. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 7, 76–102
58.
WenX.LeowC.Hahs-VaughnD. L.KorfmacherJ.MarcusS. M. (2012). Are two years better than one year? A propensity score analysis of the impact of Head Start program duration on children’s school performance in kindergarten. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27, 684–694. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2011.07.006
59.
WoodcockR. W.McGrewK. S.MatherN. (2001). Woodcock-Johnson-III tests of achievement. Rolling Meadows, IL: Riverside Publishing.
60.
WinslerA.CaverlyS. L.Willson-QuayleA.CarltonM. P.HowellC.LongG. N. (2002). The social and behavioral ecology of mixed-age and same-age preschool classrooms: A natural experiment. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 23, 305–330
61.
XueY.MillerE. B.AugerA.PanY.BurchinalM.TienH.-C.…TarulloL. (2016). IV. Testing for dosage-outcome associations in early care and education. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 81, 64–74. doi:10.1111/mono.12239
62.
YoshikawaH.WeilandC.Brooks-GunnJ.BurchinalM. R.EspinosaL. M.GormleyW.…ZaslowM. J. (2013). Investing in our future: The evidence base on preschool education. New York: Foundation for Child Development, Society for Research in Child Development.
63.
ZhaiF.Brooks-GunnJ.WaldfogelJ. (2014). Head Start’s impact is contingent on alternative type of care in comparison group. Developmental Psychology, 50, 2572.
64.
ZiglerE.KaganS. L. (1982). Child development knowledge and educational practice: Using what we know. Policy making in education. Eighty-first yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 81, 80–104.
65.
ZillN. (1990). Behavior problems index based on parent report. Washington, DC: Child Trends.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
