William T. Gormley

The Effects of Universal Pre-K on Cognitive Development.

In this study of Oklahoma’s universal pre-K program, the authors relied on a strict birthday eligibility criterion to compare “young” kindergarten children who just completed pre-K to “old” pre-K children just beginning pre-K. This regression-discontinuity design reduces the threat of selection bias. Their sample consisted of 1,567 pre-K children and 1,461 kindergarten children who had just completed pre-K. The authors estimated the impact of the pre-K treatment on Woodcock–Johnson Achievement test scores. The authors found test impacts of 3.00 points (0.79 of the standard deviation for the control group) for the Letter–Word Identification score, 1.86 points (0.64 of the standard deviation of the control group) for the Spelling score, and 1.94 points (0.38 of the standard deviation of the control group) for the Applied Problems score. Hispanic, Black, White, and Native American children all benefit from the program, as do children in diverse income brackets, as measured by school lunch eligibility status. The authors conclude that Oklahoma’s universal pre-K program has succeeded in enhancing the school readiness of a diverse group of children.

Promoting School Readiness in Oklahoma An Evaluation of Tulsa's Pre-K Program

Since the mid-1990s, three states, including Oklahoma, have established a universal pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program. We analyze the effects of Oklahomas universal pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program for four-year-olds on children in Tulsa Public Schools (TPS). The main difficulty with testing the causal impact of a voluntary pre-K program is that certain parents are more likely to select pre-K, and these parents might have other unobservable characteristics that influence the test outcomes of their children. Because TPS administered an identical test in September 2001 to children just beginning pre-K and children just beginning kindergarten, we can compare test outcomes of “old” pre-kindergarten students to test outcomes of “young” kindergarten students who attended pre-K the previous year. We find that the Tulsa pre-K program increases cognitive/knowledge scores by approximately 0.39 standard deviation, motor skills scores by approximately 0.24 standard deviation, and language scores by approximately 0.38 standard deviation. Impacts tend to be largest for Hispanics, followed by blacks, with little impact for whites. Children who qualify for a free lunch have larger impacts than other children.

Preschool Programs Can Boost School Readiness

E arly childhood programs have been heralded by both scholars and decisionmakers as a promising avenue for fostering school readiness (1–4). In the United States, these sentiments have fueled ambitious preschool initiatives from both state and federal resources. Oklahoma’s prekindergarten (pre-K) program has generated attention because it is universal, is based in the school system, and reaches a higher percentage of 4year-olds than any other state pre-K program. Oklahoma’s statefunded pre-K program channels aid to local school districts, which are free to run full-day programs, half-day programs, or both. Federally funded Head Start programs, which are targeted to poor or otherwise at-risk children, and private day care centers are also eligible for state funding if they establish “collaborative” relations with their local school district. The Oklahoma pre-K program has relatively high standards compared with those of other states and offers relatively high pay and benefits to well-qualified teachers. Every lead teacher must have a B.A. degree and must be certified in early-childhood education. Student teacher ratios of 10-to-1 and class sizes of 20 must be maintained. The Community Action Project (CAP) of Tulsa County, whose Head Start program serves the largest number of children in Tulsa, is eligible for state funding. Its teachers meet the same standards as their Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) counterparts and receive similar pay (5). Here, we estimate the short-term test score gains for children in Tulsa’s pre-K and Head Start programs. In August 2006, we administered three subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Test to incoming Tulsa students entering pre-K and Head Start programs and kindergarten. The tests were administered just before the commencement of classes by the individual who would be teaching the child that year. About 78% of all pre-K entrants, 69% of all Head Start entrants, and 73% of all kindergarten entrants were tested. The tested students closely mirrored the universe of students, except for the kindergarten cohort, where some differences between the two groups were found (6). While the child was being tested, the parent completed a survey to provide demographic information. Program participation and school lunch eligibility were determined separately (7). The three subtests we used were the letterword identification test (a measure of prereading skills); the spelling test (a measure of prewriting skills); and the applied problems test (a measure of premath skills). These subtests have been shown to be especially appropriate for children aged 4 to 5 and have been used by other researchers studying both at-risk and more diverse groups of children. Woodcock-Johnson test scores at or before school entry help to predict later scholastic achievement (8). A difficult methodological challenge that confronts education researchers is selection bias. Here, the concern is that children whose parents choose for them to participate in the voluntary pre-K or Head Start programs will differ from nonparticipants and that these differences will affect test scores. To overcome such selection bias, we have used two separate regressiondiscontinuity estimations. First, the treatment group consisted of 1264 kindergarten students who attended Tulsa’s pre-K program and the comparison group was 1492 children who were about to begin that program. For the second estimation, the treatment group consisted of 327 kindergarten students who attended Tulsa’s Head Start program, and the comparison group was 483 children about to enter that program. This research design is possible because the TPS and the Tulsa Head Start program strictly enforce a 1 September birthday requirement for enrollment in the 4-year-olds’program. Our analysis estimates the continuous relation between age and test score separately on both sides of the age cut-off. This is achieved by regressing test scores against the child’s precise date of birth (the number of days born before or after the cut-off qualification date), an age cutoff indicator variable, and an interaction variable that allows for different slopes on both Preschool programs in Oklahoma help children to succeed in school. Preschool Programs Can Boost School Readiness

Social-Emotional Effects of Early Childhood Education Programs in Tulsa

This article assesses the effects of Tulsa, Oklahomas early childhood education programs on social-emotional outcomes, examining teacher ratings of childrens behavior from the Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention and a measure of attentiveness using fixed effects regressions with propensity score matching. The sample includes 2,832 kindergarten students in 2006, of whom 1,318 participated in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) pre-K program and 363 participated in the CAP of Tulsa County Head Start program the previous year. Program participation was associated with lower timidity and higher attentiveness for TPS pre-K alumni and a marginally significant reduction in timidity for Head Start alumni. Results were similar for the free lunch-eligible subsample. We conclude that high-quality, school-based preschool programs can enhance social-emotional development.

State regulations and the availability of child-care services

Most state regulations do not adversely affect the availability of regulated day-care services. However, regulations differ in their costliness, intrusiveness, and enforceability. Costly regulations may reduce the number of group day-care centers, and intrusive regulations may reduce the number of family day-care homes. Unenforceable regulations have no apparent effects. In some instances, regulators face trade-offs between quality and availability. However, requirements for provider training and limitations on group size do not involve such trade-offs. More broadly, improvements in the regulatory process may result in quality gains without reductions in availability.

Institutional policy analysis: A critical review

Institutional policy analysts, who study government reform and its consequences, have made three strategic choices: first, they support or emphasize procedural values; second, they use a single method to examine a single reform of a single institution; and third, they focus on declining institutions, formal reforms, and coercive controls. The author challenges these choices and argues in favor of alternative approaches.

Regulating Child Care Quality

Child care quality depends on child care regulation as plants depend on water. An insufficient amount guarantees problems, but an excessive amount may also be problematic. The principal responsibility for child care regulation in the United States resides with state government officials, who must regulate a highly diverse industry. Research shows that regulation promotes quality but that trade-offs exist. Quality improvements that undermine availability or affordability should be evaluated with care. Also, regulatory enforcement deserves as much attention as regulatory standard setting. To improve child care regulation, state policymakers should consider eliminating some local regulations, regulating more family day care homes, upgrading teacher-training requirements, allocating more resources to regulatory enforcement, and designing more effective enforcement strategies.

The Strategic Choices of Child Advocacy Groups

Public interest groups have many strategic options, including “insider” strategies, “ outsider” strategies, coalition building, and public policy research. Although group resources should affect these strategic choices, the presence of friends and enemies in the political environment should matter as well. We examine the evidence by assessing the behavior of 50 child advocacy groups that seek to influence public policy at the state level. We find that enemies motivate public interest groups more than friends but that friends also matter, at least for decisions to invest in public policy research.

From Science to Policy in Early Childhood Education

This paper examines the relationship between scientific research and public policy. After explaining why the simple conversion of research into public law is unlikely, several factors are identified that can promote the use of research by public officials. Examples of use and non-use are cited from early childhood education, where empirical evidence on program effects is relatively strong. Some specific suggestions are offered for improving the connection between science and public policy.

Potential Responsiveness in the Bureaucracy: Views of Public Utility Regulation

To whom is the bureaucracy responsive? A study of public utility regulation in 12 states helps to answer that question. To assess potential responsiveness in the bureaucracy, we examine indicators of attitudinal concurrence. Whether we look at issue priorities or value priorities, public utility commissioners are more responsive to staff members and utility company executives than to governmental consumer advocates. However, bureaucratic responsiveness to citizens varies unexpectedly across stages of the policymaking process. Concurrence between commissioners and citizen activists is relatively high on issue priorities, relatively low on value priorities. Success at the agenda-setting stage does not guarantee success in policy formulation. In practice, agenda responsiveness may be little more than an exercise in symbolic politics.