In a newly-published study, children admitted to the Tennessee state-funded preschool program by lottery did less well than those who were not admitted, based on data for sixth grade:
- assessments results
- disciplinary infractions
- attendance
- identification for special education services (excluding those for physical disabilities)
This is not what we expect to see. The studies of Perry Preschool and the Abcedarian project show that high quality early childhood programs have positive lifetime impacts. Similarly, Professor James Heckman’s work offers a compelling demonstration of “the great gains to be had by investing in the early and equal development of human potential.” So why is this data from Tennessee showing something so different? This post will wrestle with that question.
The research report from Kelley Durkin, Mark Lipsey, Dale Farran, and Sarah Wiesen (all based at Vanderbilt) is available from Developmental Psychology, a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Psychological Association. This work continues 2018 analysis of preschool impacts through grade 3, adding evidence through grade 6. The journal article is available here (paywall) and analyzed in this Hechinger reporting.
The study design is careful enough to deserve attention. While no research design is perfect, this one has at least moderately careful controls. The students being compared are all from low-income families and all from families that applied to be in the preschool program. Getting admitted was a lottery-decision, not a matter of doing a better job of applying or pressing the system for an opportunity. Similarly, this study looked at most of the evidence Kentucky considers in school report cards. In addition to data on assessments, discipline, attendance, and disability identification, the study considered retention in grade and found no significant differences between groups for that outcome. Someday it could be great to have data on participants’ later education, careers, health family life, and other indicators of their flourishing, but these learners have not yet finished high school.
So again, what’s happening? Here are some thoughts on what to explore.
First, what’s happening on easily measured indicators of quality, like group size and teacher qualifications and pay? The authors cite some evidence on that, writing:
As we report, the statewide scale up of TN-VPK began in 2005 after nearly 10 years of pilot testing and met nine of the 10 NIEER benchmarks (Barnett et al., 2009). A recent review of statewide programs by the NIEER group (Friedman-Krauss et al., 2019) praised the program in Tennessee for being among those in 27 states that paid its pre-K teachers at parity with elementary teachers, one of only 26 states to offer pre-K teachers retirement benefits, health care and paid time off, and one of only 25 to require its teachers to have a bachelor’s degree plus certification. Among state-funded pre-K programs, the TN program is above average and arguably in the top tier on characteristics many believe mark high quality (Sharpe et al., 2017).
That suggests that the simpler forms of evidence may not be good clues to the problem.
Next, what’s happening on deeper, harder-to-track indicators of quality, like the activities students are offered and the ways they interact with teachers? On those richer features, the Prichard Committee’s Early Childhood Education Study Group offered a powerful vision of what we should hope to see in preschool and related programs:
All Kentucky children, birth to age 8, will have intellectually engaging, imaginative, and culturally responsive learning experiences that extend their curiosity and support social and emotional health and well-being. Developmentally appropriate early childhood experiences will immerse children in hands-on inquiry, sensory- and language-rich environments that support their potential to be creative and critical thinkers. As a result, all children will be well prepared for success in kindergarten and proficient in math and reading by the end of third grade.
What if Tennessee preschools aren’t consistently providing that caliber of experience? What if those programs are far enough from those strengths that participants ended up with a weaker start than those who spent their days another way?
The authors of the study raise the possibility that preschools could be focusing intently on what the authors call “constrained skills” which are “directly teachable skills in a finite domain (e.g., 26 letters of the alphabet)” where there’s a ceiling or maximum to what learners can learn and 100% mastery is possible. Those skills are easy to measure and are valued on commonly-used assessments. It really is possible to imagine programs deciding to put extra emphasis on those skills and insufficient focus on other capacities. The authors cite research indicating that students’ long-term success may depend more on “unconstrained skills” like vocabulary, listening comprehension, background knowledge, problem solving mathematical reasoning, attention, and working memory. The study does not say that is happening: it raises the possibility as needing further research.
Notice that this possibility might also explain why the outcomes differ from the Perry Preschool and Abecedarian demonstration projects. If Tennessee preschools are doing a different kind of work with children, they could indeed have a different kind of impact on those young learners’ futures.
For Kentucky, that possibility is also worth considering. When we report kindergarten readiness, we’re measuring a short list of quite constrained skills. If we want to offer young Kentuckians a broad, deep set of early childhood experiences, designed to nurture a richer set of capacities for our rising generation, we need to be sure that we are valuing and building toward that vision.
Of course, something quite different may also be going on. It maybe something else in the design of the state preschool or some specific local versions of preschool, or may something about the options that were available to the children who didn’t “win” the lottery in those years. It may be features that are still part of the program or elements that have been changed in the years since these 2009 and 2010 preschoolers were enrolled.
The Tennessee study doesn’t suggest to me that “preschool doesn’t work.” It does suggest that we need to be clear and steady in wanting preschool to engage young children fully, building their imaginations, curiosity, language capacities, number awareness, cultural strengths and social and emotional flourishing. In all Kentucky’s early childhood investments, we need to keep our eye on that prize.
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