Fuhua Zhai

CSRP’s Impact on Low-Income Preschoolers’ Preacademic Skills: Self-Regulation as a Mediating Mechanism

Based on theoretically driven models, the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) targeted low-income childrens school readiness through the mediating mechanism of self-regulation. The CSRP is a multicomponent, cluster-randomized efficacy trial implemented in 35 Head Start-funded classrooms (N = 602 children). The analyses confirm that the CSRP improved low-income childrens self-regulation skills (as indexed by attention/impulse control and executive function) from fall to spring of the Head Start year. Analyses also suggest significant benefits of CSRP for childrens preacademic skills, as measured by vocabulary, letter-naming, and math skills. Partial support was found for improvement in childrens self-regulation as a hypothesized mediator for childrens gains in academic readiness. Implications for programs and policies that support young childrens behavioral health and academic success are discussed.

Head Start and Urban Children's School Readiness: A Birth Cohort Study in 18 Cities

We used longitudinal data from a birth cohort study, the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, to investigate the links between Head Start and school readiness in a large and diverse sample of urban children at age 5 (N = 2,803; 18 cities). We found that Head Start attendance was associated with enhanced cognitive ability and social competence and reduced attention problems but not reduced internalizing or externalizing behavior problems. These findings were robust to model specifications (including models with city-fixed effects and propensity-scoring matching). Furthermore, the effects of Head Start varied by the reference group. Head Start was associated with improved cognitive development when compared with parental care or other nonparental care, as well as improved social competence (compared with parental care) and reduced attention problems (compared with other nonparental care). In contrast, compared with attendance at pre-kindergarten or other center-based care, Head Start attendance was not associated with cognitive gains but with improved social competence and reduced attention and externalizing behavior problems (compared with attendance at other center-based care). These associations were not moderated by child gender or race/ethnicity.

Head start participation and school readiness: evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort.

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (n ≈ 6,950), a nationally representative sample of children born in 2001, we examined school readiness (academic skills and socioemotional well-being) at kindergarten entry for children who attended Head Start compared with those who experienced other types of child care (prekindergarten, other center-based care, other nonparental care, or parental care). Using propensity score matching methods and ordinary least squares regressions with rich controls, we found that Head Start participants had higher early reading and math scores than children in other nonparental care or parental care but also higher levels of conduct problems than those in parental care. Head Start participants had lower early reading scores compared with children in prekindergarten and had no differences in any outcomes compared with children in other center-based care. Head Start benefits were more pronounced for children who had low initial cognitive ability or parents with low levels of education or who attended Head Start for more than 20 hr per week.

ANTI‐POVERTY EFFECTIVENESS OF THE MINIMUM LIVING STANDARD ASSISTANCE POLICY IN URBAN CHINA

Since its inception 15 years ago, the Minimum Living Standard Assistance (MLSA) has served as a last resort for Chinas urban poor. Using national household survey data, this study provides updated evidence on the participation rate, receipt amount, and anti-poverty effectiveness of MLSA. Families eligible for MLSA make up 2.3 percent of the urban population, but only about half of them are actual beneficiaries. City MLSA generosity and household entitled benefit amount both positively correlate with participation rate and household receipt amount. MLSA lowers the poverty rate somewhat, but substantially reduces the poverty gap and severity for its eligible participants. Nevertheless, the poverty reduction role of MLSA is restricted by its partial coverage and delivery. Consequentially, poverty remains a serious problem for MLSAs target population. The anti-poverty effectiveness of MLSA can be strengthened by full coverage and delivery of benefits and by paying special attention to disadvantaged subgroups.

Head Start's Impact Is Contingent on Alternative Type of Care in Comparison Group.

Using data (n = 3,790 with 2,119 in the 3-year-old cohort and 1,671 in the 4-year-old cohort) from 353 Head Start centers in the Head Start Impact Study, the only large-scale randomized experiment in Head Start history, this article examined the impact of Head Start on childrens cognitive and parent-reported social-behavioral outcomes through first grade contingent on the child care arrangements used by children who were randomly assigned to the control group (i.e., parental care, relative/non-relative care, another Head Start program, or other center-based care). A principal score matching approach was adopted to identify children assigned to Head Start who were similar to children in the control group with a specific care arrangement. Overall, the results showed that the effects of Head Start varied substantially contingent on the alternative child care arrangements. Compared with children in parental care and relative/non-relative care, Head Start participants generally had better cognitive and parent-reported behavioral development, with some benefits of Head Start persisting through first grade; in contrast, few differences were found between Head Start and other center-based care. The results have implications regarding the children for whom Head Start is most beneficial as well as how well Head Start compares with other center-based programs.

Dosage Effects on School Readiness: Evidence from a Randomized Classroom-Based Intervention

Variations in the dosage of social interventions and the effects of dosage on program outcomes remain understudied. This study examines the dosage effects of the Chicago School Readiness Project, a randomized, multifaceted classroom-based intervention conducted in Head Start settings. Using a principal score matching method to address the issue of selection bias, the study finds that high-dosage levels of teacher training and mental health consultant class visits have larger effects on children’s school readiness than the effects estimated through intention-to-treat (ITT) analyses. Low-dosage levels of treatment are found to have effects that are smaller than those estimated in ITT analyses or to have no statistically significant program effects. Moreover, individual mental health consultation services provided to high-risk children are found to have statistically significant effects on their school readiness. The study discusses the implications of these findings for research and policy.

Challenges With Propensity Score Strategies in a High-Dimensional Setting and a Potential Alternative

This article explores some of the challenges that arise when trying to implement propensity score strategies to answer a causal question using data with a large number of covariates. We discuss choices in propensity score estimation strategies, matching and weighting implementation strategies, balance diagnostics, and final analysis models. We demonstrate the wide range of estimates that can result from different combinations of these choices. Finally, an alternative estimation strategy is presented that may have benefits in terms of simplicity and reliability. These issues are explored in the context of an empirical example that uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort to investigate the potential effect of grade retention after the 1st-grade year on subsequent cognitive outcomes.

Head Start, Pre-Kindergarten, and Academic School Readiness: A Comparison Among Regions in the U.S.

ABSTRACT Child care programs (including Head Start, prekindergarten [pre-K], and other center-based care) can differ, with patterns of use based on their location. Yet little research has examined how Head Start and pre-K programs affect childrens academic school readiness, including vocabulary and reading skills at school entry, in the South as compared to other regions. To examine this further, secondary data (n = 2,803) collected in the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study were examined. Overall findings suggest, regardless of region, that Head Start and pre-K participants had higher academic skills at school entry than did their counterparts. In addition, when Head Start was compared to other center-based care and pre-K was compared to other care arrangements, both had larger effects on improving academic skills in the South compared with in other regions. These findings imply that Head Start and pre-K programs should target children who otherwise would receive nonparental non-center-based care. Future research should focus on why the effects of Head Start and pre-K vary between the South and other regions.

Effects of public preschool expenditures on the test scores of fourth graders: evidence from TIMSS

This study examines the effects of public preschool expenditures on the math and science scores of 4th graders, holding constant child, family, and school characteristics, other relevant social expenditures, and country and year effects, in 7 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries – Australia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, UK, and USA – using data from the 1995 and 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Our results indicate that there are small but significant positive effects of public preschool expenditures on the math and science scores of 4th graders and that preschool expenditures reduce the risk of children scoring at the low level of proficiency. We also find some evidence that children from low-resource homes and homes where the test language is not always spoken may tend to gain more from increased public preschool expenditures than other children.

Head Start and children's nutrition, weight, and health care receipt

Using a sample of low-income children from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (N ≈ 4,350) and propensity-score weighted regressions, we analyzed childrens nutrition, weight, and health care receipt at kindergarten entry, comparing 1) Head Start participants and all non-participants, and 2) Head Start participants and children in prekindergarten, other center-based care, other non-parental care, or only parental care. Overall, we found that compared to all non-participants, Head Start participants were more likely to receive dental checkups but showed no differences in getting medical checkups; they were also more likely to have healthy eating patterns but showed no differences in Body Mass Index (BMI), overweight, or obesity. However, these results varied depending on the comparison group-Head Start participants showed lower BMI scores and lower probability of overweight compared to those in other non-parental care, and the effects on healthy eating and dental checkups differed by comparison group.