Summit IV Promising Progress

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Summit IVPromising Progress

• Craig T. Ramey, Ph.D.
• Director, Center for Health and Education
• Georgetown University

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iLEAP Achievement Percentage of
Students at Basic and Above
Children in 2002-2003 LA 4 / Starting Points
performed at higher levels on iLEAP in all areas
when compared to children who had no public
prekindergarten or those statewide.
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LA 4 Kindergarten Retention Rates (Cohorts 1, 2,
and 3) for Students Receiving Free and
Reduced Lunch (FRL)
n 8,784 n 2,886 n 8,759 n
3,132 n 12,111 n 3,126 Z
5.15, Plt0.001 Z 5.60,
Plt0.001 Z 8.15, Plt0.001
LA 4 / Starting Points children in three separate
cohorts showed significantly reduced grade
retention in kindergarten when compared to those
with no public PreK.
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Annual Retention Rates in Kindergarten, First and
Second Grades (Cohort 1) Children Enrollment in
Free and Reduced Lunch (FRL)
n 8,784 n 2,886 n
6,452 n 2,277 n
5,712 n 1,956 Z 5.15, Plt0.001
Z 3.30, Plt0.001
Z 2.36, P0.02
LA 4 (FRL) Cohort 1 children show significantly
decreased retention rates in all grades when
compared to their peers who did not receive
public PreK.
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Percentage of FRL Children Placed in Special
Education in Kindergarten Year
n 12,992 n 3,204 n
6,950 n 572 Z 8.79, Plt0.001
Z 2.09, P 0.04
LA 4 children demonstrate reduced rates of
special education placement when compared to
their peers who do not receive public PreK.
(Cohort 3)
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Percentage of FRL Children Placed in
Special Education in First Grade Year
n 12,111 n 3,126
n 6,415 n 558
Z 10.60,
Plt0.001 Z 2.41, Plt0.02
LA 4 (FRL) children demonstrate reduced rates of
special education placement when compared to
their peers who do not receive public PreK.
(Cohort 3)
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High Quality Indicators - LA 4

• High Quality Program Standards
• Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale
  program quality measure
• No cost to children qualifying for free and
  reduced price meals
• Child to lead teacher ratio 201 Child/Adult
  ratios 101
• Before and after child care (10 - hour day)
• Transportation

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High Quality Indicators - LA 4

• High Quality Program Standards
• Summer programs
• Attendance requirement
• Public awareness and recruitment campaign
• Ongoing program evaluation and research
• Self-assessment of program strengths, weaknesses,
  opportunities and threats (S.W.O.T.) from
  administrators and teachers

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High Quality Indicators - LA 4

• High Quality Academic Standards
• Pre and Post assessment
• Pass/fail criteria prohibited
• Portfolios to form plans for ongoing individual
  instruction
• Longitudinal research
• Retention, Special Education Placement, Reading,
  Student Achievement (English Language Arts, Math,
  Science, Social Studies), analysis in the areas
  of SES, ethnicity, gender, student performance
  upon kindergarten entry, teacher program
  quality (ELLCO ECERS-R), collaboration with
  childcare facilities, Social-Emotional pilot
  Performance in Low vs. Mid vs. High Performing
  Schools
• Inclusion
• Comprehensive Curriculum

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High Quality Indicators - LA 4

• High Quality Teacher Standards
• Certified teachers
• 18 hours of early childhood professional
  development each year
• Highly qualified teacher assistants

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High Quality Indicators - LA 4

• High Quality Support Resource Standards
• Enrollment in states insurance program
• Immunizations
• Vision/ hearing/ dental screenings
• Parental education, literacy, orientation and
  involvement activities
• Referral to appropriate mental health services
• Collaboration among early childhood stakeholders
• Resource coordination with support and social
  services

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LA 4 performance exceeds the quality benchmarks
year after year and consistently scores above
other states.
RECAP includes the performance of 3 and 4-year
old children using the ECERS-R assessment in 156
classrooms (not a universal Prekindergarten
program).
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Developing Skills Checklist (DSC)
National Percentile Rank for LA 4
Children Statewide in Language, Print, and Math
Across Program Years
National Percentile Rank is determined by the
conversion of the mean number of correct
responses.

• The Developing Skills Checklist is given to
  students participating in LA 4 as a pretest and a
  posttest. Student scores over the three years of
  the program have improved and continue to show
  significant improvement from pretest to posttest.
  
• Posttest scores in language and print are above
  the national average and math scores are close to
  the national average.
• The National Percentile Rank for the two full
  years of the program were identical in all three
  areas.

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Benefits of LA 4 by Race Closing the Gap
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Comparing Reading First and LA 4 Reading First
Percentage of students on benchmark as measured
by Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy
Skills Oral Reading Fluency.
Data limited to the following LEAs that
participate in both programs City of Bogalusa,
Desoto, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Tangipahoa,
Vermilion, Washington
Sources LA Department of Education Student
Information System (October 1, 2006), DIBELS Data
System - Louisiana Data (2006-07)
Children who participate in both LA 4 and Reading
First perform at higher levels than students who
only participate in only one of the programs or
neither. Students who participated in at least
one perform better than students who have
participated in neither.
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Direct comparison of achievement results between
MD and LA samples

• Purpose of estimating how much impact can be
  attributed to half-year (LA Pilot Year) versus
  Full Year and Half-Day (MD study) to Full-Day
• Purpose of looking for cross-state findings about
  benefits from high quality, evidence-based
  curriculum classrooms even when populations
  differ on important charactersistics

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Similarities in MD and LA Pre-K programs

• Implemented by public schools
• Certified early childhood teachers (full
  benefits, comparable salaries to other teachers)
• Classroom sizes of no more than 20
• Adult to child ratio of no more than 1 to 10
• Specified pre-K curriculum in resource-rich
  classrooms and high standards
• Ongoing professional development
• Strong focus on language and early literacy
• Collaborations with other services, e.g., health,
  mental health, child care, social services

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Differences in MD and LA Pre-K

• MCPS Pre-K classrooms are half-day while LA
  classrooms are full-day
• Children in LA4 start at slightly lower levels
  than do children in MCPS
• MCPS classrooms serve more diverse children in
  terms of nationality and language backgrounds
• LA4 is not limited to at risk students, while
  MCPS currently is

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Overview of Natchitoches Parish Test Data
2003-2004 Conversion of Mean Number of Correct
Responses to National Percentile Rank (NPR by
Grade) in Language, Print, and Math for All PreK
Students in Natchitoches and by Program
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How Does PreK impact School Readiness and
Increase Student Achievement?

• Closes the achievement gap at Kindergarten entry
• Reduces grade retention
• Reduces referral and identification to special
  education
• Increases student achievement
• What Outcomes Are Expected in the Future?
• Improved high school graduation rates
• Increased post-secondary program entry and post
  secondary graduation rate
• Reduced juvenile crime
• Reduced dependency on welfare
• Improved quality of life