Impacts of State-Funded Pre-K on Preschool-Age Test Scores
| Pre-K | Test Score (Average Reading and Math) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-Stage (1) | Ineligible Mean (2) | RF (ITT) (3) | IV (TOT) (4) | OLS (5) | |
| Panel A: Universal (N = 3,400) | |||||
| No additional controls | 0.211 (0.047) | −0.183 | 0.144 (0.081) | 0.682 (0.389) | −0.168 (0.057) |
| With additional controlsa | 0.211 (0.047) | 0.120 (0.065) | 0.569 (0.315) | −0.069 (0.048) | |
| Panel B: Targeted (N = 3,950) | |||||
| No additional controls | 0.114 (0.033) | −0.235 | −0.009 (0.069) | −0.076 (0.594) | −0.232 (0.049) |
| With additional controlsa | 0.118 (0.034) | −0.044 (0.060) | −0.373 (0.513) | −0.093 (0.042) | |
| Panel C: p-Value on Universal–Targeted Difference (N = 7,350) | |||||
| No additional controls | 0.045 | 0.071 | 0.185 | 0.227 | |
| With additional controlsa | 0.057 | 0.012 | 0.046 | 0.609 | |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) of children born in calendar year 2001, “Children’s Birth Certificates” (collection at nine months), “Parent–Guardian Interviews,” “Direct Child Assessments,” and “Early Care and Education Providers” (collection at 48 months).
Notes: The first-stage and RF (ITT) [reduced-form (intent-to-treat)] columns in Panels A and B give coefficients on the interaction between a dummy for being eligible for kindergarten in 2006–2007 and a dummy for being in a treated state (elig × treat). (See text or Online Appendix Tables 1 and 2 for definition of universal, targeted, and comparison states.) The IV (TOT) [instrumental variables (treatment-on-treated)] and OLS columns in Panels A and B give coefficients on pre-K attendance (prek), in the first case instrumenting with elig × treat using TSLS. All coefficients are from separate regressions that also include dummies for state of residence, month × year of assessment, and month age five relative to the state kindergarten entry cutoff birth date in 2006–2007. Regressions are weighted by longitudinal sampling weights, and standard errors (in parentheses) are clustered on state × month of birth.
↵aAdditional controls include all demographic and background characteristics in Table 1, Panel B: age at assessment, dummies for female, Hispanic, Black non-Hispanic, low birth weight, not English at home, mom has high school degree or less, both biological parents in household, and low-income.