Costs of the Boston Public Prekindergarten Program
Researchers Sarah Kabay (Innovations for Poverty Action, New York, USA), Christina Weiland, and Hirokazu Yoshikawa (both at the University of Michigan) investigated “public-sector expenditures for the city of Boston’s public prekindergarten program,” which they note is “a particularly high-quality program.” The researchers examined “how costs change over time, how costs are distributed across different levels of the education system, and how costs can be adjusted in order to calculate nationally representative estimates.” They suggest their findings “are relevant for localities interested in learning from existing prekindergarten programs and can also serve as an example of cost analysis in education research.”
Higher-Quality Elementary Schools Sustain the Prekindergarten Boost: Evidence from an Exploration of Variation in the Boston Prekindergarten Program’s Impacts
Researchers Rebecca Unterman (MDRC) and Christina Weiland (University of Michigan) examined “lottery data from applicants to oversubscribed schools in Boston Public Schools (BPS) prekindergarten program to estimate variation in the effects of the program across school sites through the end of third grade.”
In their working paper, they report “academic proficiency of third-graders within the schools for which prekindergarten children completed is most strongly associated with prekindergarten program effects. Prekindergarten gains persisted if students applied to and won a seat in a higher-quality elementary school.”
They further report their “findings appear to be driven by the schools themselves and not by student selection in higher-scoring schools, nor by the counterfactual.” They suggest “policymakers and practitioners interested in sustained gains may need to also invest in improving the quality of children’s K-3 experience.”
Relationship between Screen Time and Sleep among Finnish Preschool Children: Results from the DAGIS Study
Researchers examined “the associations between screen time, the time used on different screen devices, and sleep in a sample of Finnish preschool children” based on 2015–2016 data from 736 children aged 3–6 years. They found “increased screen time was associated with later bedtimes and shorter sleep duration among preschool children.” Additionally, they report “adverse associations with sleep outcomes were found for each screen device.” They suggest paying attention “to promoting balanced use of screens and regular sleep habits in young children.”
Assessing Preschool English Learners’ Receptive and Expressive Language Ability to Inform Instruction
Researchers Ahyoung Alicia Kim, Mark Chapman, Gordon Blaine West, Bingjie Zheng, and M. Elizabeth Cranley, all from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, explored how “how preschool educators could assess dual language learners’ (DLLs) using formative instruments in school settings.” They report “educators found the formative instruments helpful in understanding DLLs’ language proficiency and believed that such an understanding could inform their instruction.” The researchers suggest their “results provide implications for assessing DLLs’ English language ability using age appropriate instruments.”
Predictors of School Mobility from Public School Pre-k to Kindergarten
Researchers Jordan E. Greenburg (George Mason), Caitlin Hines (Georgetown), and Adam Winsler (George Mason) investigated “switching schools between public school pre-k and kindergarten.” They found “black children and those receiving free or reduced lunch were more likely to switch” and “lower school quality in public school pre-k increased the odds of switching.” |