Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Nov;46(8):474-487.
doi: 10.3102/0013189X17737739. Epub 2017 Nov 15.

Impacts of Early Childhood Education on Medium- and Long-Term Educational Outcomes

Dana Charles McCoy  1 , Hirokazu Yoshikawa  2 , Kathleen M Ziol-Guest  2 , Greg J Duncan  3 , Holly S Schindler  4 , Katherine Magnuson  5 , Rui Yang  2 , Andrew Koepp  1 , Jack P Shonkoff  1
Affiliations

Impacts of Early Childhood Education on Medium- and Long-Term Educational Outcomes

Dana Charles McCoy et al. Educ Res. 2017 Nov.

Abstract

Despite calls to expand early childhood education (ECE) in the United States, questions remain regarding its medium- and long-term impacts on educational outcomes. We use meta-analysis of 22 high-quality experimental and quasi-experimental studies conducted between 1960 and 2016 to find that on average, participation in ECE leads to statistically significant reductions in special education placement (d = 0.33 SD, 8.1 percentage points) and grade retention (d = 0.26 SD, 8.3 percentage points) and increases in high school graduation rates (d = 0.24 SD, 11.4 percentage points). These results support ECE's utility for reducing education-related expenditures and promoting child well-being.

Keywords: early childhood education; grade retention; high school graduation; meta-analysis; preschool; special education.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE A1
FIGURE A1. Percentage point reduction in special education placement rates (with 95% confidence intervals) for children attending early childhood education versus control group (selected programs with available data)
+ and dark grey bars identify those observations included in sensitivity analyses using a reduced sample. Two additional observations (one from the Yale Child Welfare Research Program and one from the Perry Preschool study) included in primary analyses but not shown due to lack of percentage point data.
FIGURE A2
FIGURE A2. Percentage point reduction in grade retention rates (with 95% confidence intervals) for children attending early childhood education versus control group (selected programs with available data)
+ and dark grey bars identify those observations included in sensitivity analyses using a reduced sample. Seven additional observations (six from the Currie and Thomas NLSCM fixed effect study and one from the NLSY79 Head Start regression discontinuity study) included in primary analyses but not shown due to lack of percentage point data.
FIGURE A3
FIGURE A3. Percentage point gain in high school graduation rates (with 95% confidence intervals) for children attending early childhood education versu control group (selected programs with available data)
+ and dark grey bars identify those observations included in sensitivity analyses using a reduced sample. Two additional observations (from the NLSY79 Head Start regression discontinuity study and the OEO Head Start regression discontinuity study) included in primary analyses but not shown due to lack of percentage point data.
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1. Average rates of special education placement, grade retention, and high school graduation for early childhood education participants versus nonparticipants
Effect sizes (d) represent results from all available observations (n = 75). Percentage point data represent results from a subset of observations (n = 62) with available data. **p < .01. ***p < .001.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alexander KL, Entwistle DR, Kabbani NS. The dropout process in life course perspective: Early risk factors at home and school. Teachers College Record. 2001;70:87–107.
    1. Aos S, Lieb R, Mayfield J, Miller M, Pennucci A. Benefits and costs of prevention and early intervention programs for youth. Olympia, WA: Washington State Institute for Public Policy; 2004.
    1. Bailey D, Duncan GJ, Odgers CL, Yu W. Persistence and fadeout in the impacts of child and adolescent interventions. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness. 2017;10(1):7–39. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnett WS. Long-term effects of early childhood programs on cognitive and school outcomes. The Future of Children. 1995;5(3):25–50. - PubMed
    1. Barnett WS. Universal and targeted approaches to preschool education in the United States. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy. 2010;4(1):1–12.