Abecedarian Project and Other Early Childhood Research

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Abecedarian Project and Other Early Childhood
Research

• How Should What We Know Affect Policy?

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Key Findings from Abecedarian Project(Abecedaria
none who learns the basics such as the alphabet)
18 Months to 21 Years Old

• Intelligence (IQ)
• Reading and Math Skills
• Academic Locus-of-Control
• Social Competence
• Years in School, Including College
• Full-time Employment

• Grade Repetition
• Special Education Placement
• Teen Pregnancies
• Smoking and Drug Use

Plus benefits to mothers of these children
(education, employment)
-Ramey et al, 2000
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Conclusions

• Benefits of high-quality educational child care
  were apparent in early adulthood
• More years of education attained
• Greater academic skills in reading and math
• Greater likelihood of being in school
• More likely to attend a 4-year college

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Conclusions

• Delayed childbearing
• Increased likelihood of being employed
• Greater degree of economic independence
• No differences in criminal involvement

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The Bottom Line

• Significant long-term benefits were associated
  with high quality early childhood education.
• The likelihood of either working or being in
  school at age 21 was doubled for individuals
  treated in infancy and preschool.

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The Future for Our Nations Children

• Positive educational outcomes can be achieved for
  all children during pre-K years and beyond
• Reading success is a key, because of strong
  linkages to all learning and social adjustment
• Strategic investments yield substantial social
  and fiscal benefits to society (at least 1-to-4
  costbenefit ratio)

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Policy Implications

• Learning begins in infancy, education must also.
• The educational stimulus value of the early care
  giving years must not be wasted.
• Welfare reform has increased the need for early
  child care. We must not lose the opportunity to
  provide poor children the early learning that can
  lead to later success.

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Policy Recommendations

• Establish comprehensive early childhood
  educational initiatives that are linked
  explicitly to K-12 learning and achievement
• Targeted for high risk children
• Grounded in scientific evidence
• Builds upon existing resources

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Policy Recommendations

• Design and implement a strong accountability
  system that continuously monitors program quality
  and documents child progress and outcomes
• To inform quality improvements
• To strengthen training and technical assistance
• To reward performance

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Policy Recommendations

• Combine Funding Streams
• Promote Innovative Partnerships
• Strengthen Existing Programs That Serve Children
  From Prenatal Care Through Age 5

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Braided Funding Initiatives
Braided Funding Streams to Enhance Head Start/EHS
Percentages based on 2002 revenues
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Policy Recommendations

• Offer strong incentives for collaboration
• Eliminate duplicative and ineffective programs
• Link future funding to performance

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What is Smart Start?

• North Carolinas early childhood initiative for
  children birth through 5 and their families
• Goal is to help all children enter school healthy
  and ready to succeed
• Public-private partnership
• Comprehensive, community-based
• Providing high-quality child care, health care
  and family services
• Local determination (with guiding principles)
• Variety of efforts that vary by county and by year

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What Smart Start Is Not

• A single, easily defined intervention
• An intervention with a single goal or population
  to serve
• A longitudinal study of specific children
• A program in a vacuum

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How Does Smart Start Work?

• Funding from Legislature to NC Partnership for
  Children
• 24 million in 1993 to 190 million in 2003
• From NCPC to 82 local partnerships
• Partnerships fund contract providers

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Theories of Change Underlying Smart Start
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Smart Start Outcomes
Quality of NC Preschool Child Care
of Centers
Classroom Quality
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Smart Start Outcomes
Percent