Perry Preschool Program Research Articles

Dealing with Imperfect Randomization: Inference for the Highscope Perry Preschool Program

Dealing with Imperfect Randomization: Inference for the Highscope Perry Preschool Program

Dealing with Imperfect Randomization: Inference for the HighScope Perry Preschool Program

Dealing with Imperfect Randomization: Inference for the HighScope Perry Preschool Program

Corrigendum to “Updating the Economic Impacts of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program”

Corrigendum to “Updating the Economic Impacts of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program”

Corrigendum to “The High/Scope Perry Preschool Program: Cost–Benefit Analysis Using Data from the Age-40 Followup”

Corrigendum to “The High/Scope Perry Preschool Program: Cost–Benefit Analysis Using Data from the Age-40 Followup”

Inference with Imperfect Randomization: The Case of the Perry Preschool Program

This paper considers the problem of making inferences about the effects of a program on multiple outcomes when the assignment of treatment status is imperfectly randomized. By imperfect randomization we mean that treatment status is reassigned after an initial randomization on the basis of characteristics that may be observed or unobserved by the analyst. We develop a partial identification approach to this problem that makes use of information limiting the extent to which randomization is imperfect to show that it is still possible to make nontrivial inferences about the effects of the program in such settings. We consider a family of null hypotheses in which each null hypothesis specifies that the program has no effect on one of several outcomes of interest. Under weak assumptions, we construct a procedure for testing this family of null hypotheses in a way that controls the familywise error rate -- the probability of even one false rejection -- in finite samples. We develop our methodology in the context of a reanalysis of the HighScope Perry Preschool program. We find statistically significant effects of the program on a number of different outcomes of interest, including outcomes related to criminal activity for males and females, even after accounting for the imperfectness of the randomization and the multiplicity of null hypotheses.

Heterogeneous treatment effects on Children's cognitive/non-cognitive skills: A reevaluation of an influential early childhood intervention

The 1962–67 High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, a well-known experimental early childhood intervention study that provided quality preschool education to disadvantaged children, has been shown to have had positive impacts on early child development and on a variety of adulthood outcomes. However, most previous analyses have only examined average treatment effects across all program participants without exploring possible effect heterogeneity by children's background characteristics. We investigated this question by first using the 1964–65 Current Population Survey data in combination with the Perry data to construct a scale of child socioeconomic status based on the estimated propensity for inclusion in the Perry program, then analyzing effect heterogeneity within the Perry sample by strata of our socioeconomic scale. We found that the treatment effects of enrollment in the Perry preschool on cognitive and non-cognitive skills were much larger and more persistent among the most disadvantaged children than among others in the Perry program. Furthermore, among the most disadvantaged children, the treatment (i.e., preschool enrollment) affects later outcomes through a reinforcement mechanism of skill development (i.e., early cognitive gain leads to a non-cognitive gain, which in turn leads to later cognitive gain) and a sequential improvement of cognitive skills over time. These findings have important implications for the evaluation of policy interventions in early child development using experimental data.

PREVENTION PROGRAMS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING IN PRESCHOOL YEARS

The individuals continue to live with the achieved skills and behaviors. The inefficiencies in these skills affect the acquisition of new skills, learning and quality of life. Social-emotional learning skills are the skills that are necessary in various areas from social life to academic life. Social-emotional learning skills can be improved through teaching of the desirable behavioral patterns, and also through the prevention of undesirable behavioral patterns. In this study, available prevention programs for the development of social-emotional learning in preschool years were examined. The five prevention programs titled as Al’s Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices, DARE to be You, High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, Second Step, and Zippy’s Friends were handled. The aims, contents, and effects of these programs were reviewed. The results of the review showed that Al’s Pals is a resiliency-based prevention program to risk factors such as violence and poverty, DARE to be You is a resiliency-based intervention program to later substance abuse while High/Scope Perry Preschool Program is an intervention program to abstain from school failure and other related problems. It was also revealed that Second Step is a violence-prevention program, and Zippy’s Friends is a suicide prevention program. It was found that all of these programs are valid and effective in improving behaviors that negatively affect social-emotional learning of preschool children. It is clear that these programs can be used by proficient teachers and educators to support children’s social-emotional learning skills as well as main objectives of the programs regarding prevention. Article visualizations:

Concealed spots and contemporary supranational ECEC policy

This article returns to the historical roots of ECEC and considers them within the context of contemporary international preschool education policy. Present-day policy is characterised by the high level of support directed at this education level. The reasons for this are largely economic and ECEC is becoming part of economic development strategy. Frequently research such as the HighScope Perry Preschool Program can be found in the background. In many ways contemporary ECEC is reminiscent of education policy under communism in Europe. This area represents a concealed spot in the international research on preschool education. The extensive expansion of nursery schools in these countries took place from the middle of the last century onwards. They were the first countries to create preschool curricula at the national level. They also often relied on the first attempt at an early years curriculum, contained in John Amos Comenius’s The School of Infancy (Informatorium of Maternal School).

Commentary: Could Academic Research Be More Policy Influential?

Commentary: Could Academic Research Be More Policy Influential?

Long-term follow-ups of experimental interventions

The book Understanding and Controlling Crime: Toward a New Research Strategy (Farrington et al. 1986) set out in great detail the advantages of a project in which there were several years of data collection (preferably in face-to-face interviews), followed by one experimental intervention, followed by several more years of data collection. However, as shown in the more recent reviews by Farrington (2006), Loeber and Farrington (2008), and Farrington et al. (2010), these kinds of longitudinalexperimental studies have never been carried out in criminology. There have been a number of longitudinal-experimental studies in which an initial experimental intervention was then followed up over time. However, very few of these projects have involved really long-term follow-ups. Farrington and Welsh (2013) reviewed randomized experiments with at least 50 persons per condition initially, or at least 100 persons initially allocated to two conditions: an outcome measure of offending, and a follow-up period after the intervention of at least 10 years, with interview, questionnaire, or record data. They found that only 12 longitudinal-experimental studies of this nature had ever been completed up to 2011. The longest-lasting projects were the CambridgeSomerville Study (38 years; McCord 1990) and the Perry Preschool Program (36 years; Schweinhart et al. 2005). Other long-lasting studies with follow-up interviews or questionnaires were the Abecedarian project (21 years; Campbell et al. 2002), the Nurse-Family Partnership (19 years; Eckenrode et al. 2010), the Infant Health and Development Program (18 years; McCormick et al. 2006), and the Montreal Longitudinal-Experimental Study (17 years; Boisjoli et al. 2007). These were the most important six studies; other projects had shorter follow-ups (e.g., Fast Track: CPPRG 2010), had follow-ups only in records (e.g., the Missouri Delinquency J Exp Criminol (2013) 9:385–388 DOI 10.1007/s11292-013-9195-y

Understanding the Mechanisms Through Which an Influential Early Childhood Program Boosted Adult Outcomes

A growing literature establishes that high quality early childhood interventions targeted toward disadvantaged children have substantial impacts on later life outcomes. Little is known about the mechanisms producing these impacts. This paper uses longitudinal data on cognitive and personality traits from an experimental evaluation of the influential Perry Preschool program to analyze the channels through which the program boosted both male and female participant outcomes. Experimentally induced changes in personality traits explain a sizable portion of adult treatment effects.

Inference with Imperfect Randomization: The Case of the Perry Preschool Program

This paper considers the problem of making inferences about the effects of a program on multiple outcomes when the assignment of treatment status is imperfectly randomized. By imperfect randomization we mean that treatment status is reassigned after an initial randomization on the basis of characteristics that may be observed or unobserved by the analyst. We develop a partial identification approach to this problem that makes use of information limiting the extent to which randomization is imperfect to show that it is still possible to make nontrivial inferences about the effects of the program in such settings. We consider a family of null hypotheses in which each null hypothesis specifies that the program has no effect on one of several outcomes of interest. Under weak assumptions, we construct a procedure for testing this family of null hypotheses in a way that controls the familywise error rate – the probability of even one false rejection – infinite samples. We develop our methodology in the context of a reanalysis of the HighScope Perry Preschool program. We find statistically significant effects of the program on a number of different outcomes of interest, including outcomes related to criminal activity for males and females, even after accounting for the imperfectness of the randomization and the multiplicity of null hypotheses.

Evaluation of Small-sample Compromised Randomization: Long-term Effects of Early Childhood Intervention on Health and Addictive Behavior

Barros contribution to the literature of policy evaluation stems from advances in statistical methods applied to rigorous empirical analysis. Another central question of Barros research is the analysis of eficient policies for reducing economic inequality. In the pursue this question, Barros line of work has recently shifted towards the study of early childhood investment as a tool for promoting economic growth and improving the odds of children born in disadvantage families (Barros et al., 2011; Barros and Olinto, 2008). We follow Barros steps by developing a formal statistical evaluation of the Perry pre-school program, the oldest and most cited early childhood experiment in US. Evaluating the Perry program poses three statistical challenges. First, the small sample size cast doubts on standard inference methods that are based on asymptotic assumptions. Second, randomization compromises call into question the validity of the simple statistical procedures often applied to social experiments. Third, the large number of outcome variables gives rise to the danger of selectively reported signi cant estimates. We develop a statistical method that accounts for all these problems and is tailored to the problems we face in the Perry intervention. We focus on long-term impact on health and addictive behavior variables. We use new data at age 40 never analyzed before. We find that treated females have less negative effects of drug/alcohool usage in a range of later-life activities. For males, we find that treated participants use less hard drugs, such as heroine and hashish.

Analyzing Social Experiments as Implemented: A Reexamination of the Evidence from the Highscope Perry Preschool Program

Social experiments are powerful sources of information about the effectiveness of interventions. In practice, initial randomization plans are almost always compromised. Multiple hypotheses are frequently tested. Significant effects are often reported with p-values that do not account for preliminary screening from a large candidate pool of possible effects. This paper develops tools for analyzing data from experiments as they are actually implemented. We apply these tools to analyze the influential HighScope Perry Preschool Program. The Perry program was a social experiment that provided preschool education and home visits to disadvantaged children during their preschool years. It was evaluated by the method of random assignment. Both treatments and controls have been followed from age 3 through age 40. Previous analyses of the Perry data assume that the planned randomization protocol was implemented. In fact, as in many social experiments, the intended randomization protocol was compromised. Accounting for compromised randomization, multiple-hypothesis testing, and small sample sizes, we find statistically significant and economically important program effects for both males and females. We also examine the representativeness of the Perry study.

Analyzing social experiments as implemented: A reexamination of the evidence from the HighScope Perry Preschool Program

Social experiments are powerful sources of information about the effectiveness of interventions. In practice, initial randomization plans are almost always compromised. Multiple hypotheses are frequently tested. "Significant" effects are often reported with p-values that do not account for preliminary screening from a large candidate pool of possible effects. This paper develops tools for analyzing data from experiments as they are actually implemented.We apply these tools to analyze the influential HighScope Perry Preschool Program. The Perry program was a social experiment that provided preschool education and home visits to disadvantaged children during their preschool years. It was evaluated by the method of random assignment. Both treatments and controls have been followed from age 3 through age 40.Previous analyses of the Perry data assume that the planned randomization protocol was implemented. In fact, as in many social experiments, the intended randomization protocol was compromised. Accounting for compromised randomization, multiple-hypothesis testing, and small sample sizes, we find statistically significant and economically important program effects for both males and females. We also examine the representativeness of the Perry study.

The rate of return to the HighScope Perry Preschool Program

This paper estimates the rate of return to the HighScope Perry Preschool Program, an early intervention program targeted toward disadvantaged African-American youth. Estimates of the rate of return to the Perry program are widely cited to support the claim of substantial economic benefits from preschool education programs. Previous studies of the rate of return to this program ignore the compromises that occurred in the randomization protocol. They do not report standard errors. The rates of return estimated in this paper account for these factors. We conduct an extensive analysis of sensitivity to alternative plausible assumptions. Estimated annual social rates of return generally fall between 7 and 10%, with most estimates substantially lower than those previously reported in the literature. However, returns are generally statistically significantly different from zero for both males and females and are above the historical return on equity. Estimated benefit-to-cost ratios support this conclusion.

Effects of a Prekindergarten Educational Intervention on Adult Health: 37-Year Follow-Up Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial

We used 37 years of follow-up data from a randomized controlled trial to explore the linkage between an early educational intervention and adult health. We analyzed data from the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program (PPP), an early school-based intervention in which 123 children were randomized to a prekindergarten education group or a control group. In addition to exploring the effects of the program on health behavioral risk factors and health outcomes, we examined the extent to which educational attainment, income, family environment, and health insurance access mediated the relationship between randomization to PPP and behavioral and health outcomes. The PPP led to improvements in educational attainment, health insurance, income, and family environment Improvements in these domains, in turn, lead to improvements in an array of behavioral risk factors and health (P = .01). However, despite these reductions in behavioral risk factors, participants did not exhibit any overall improvement in physical health outcomes by the age of 40 years. Early education reduces health behavioral risk factors by enhancing educational attainment, health insurance coverage, income, and family environments. Further follow-up will be needed to determine the long-term health effects of PPP.

The Rate of Return to the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program

This paper estimates the rate of return to the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, an early intervention program targeted toward disadvantaged African-American youth. Estimates of the rate of return to the Perry program are widely cited to support the claim of substantial economic benefits from preschool education programs. Previous studies of the rate of return to this program ignore the compromises that occurred in the randomization protocol. They do not report standard errors. The rates of return estimated in this paper account for these factors. We conduct an extensive analysis of sensitivity to alternative plausible assumptions. Estimated social rates of return generally fall between 7-10 percent, with most estimates substantially lower than those previously reported in the literature. However, returns are generally statistically significantly different from zero for both males and females and are above the historical return on equity. Estimated benefit-to-cost ratios support this conclusion.

Policy Implications of Present Knowledge on the Development and Prevention of Physical Aggression

Research indicates that children are born with aggressive tendencies which they learn to control through early socialization. A small group, however, shows high aggression levels early on which remain stable throughout their life. Physical aggression is an epiphenomenon in a wide variety of antisocial behaviour, which wrecks the life of the individual as well as having large and negative consequences on society. The premise of this article is that physical aggression can be successfully influenced, but that there is a small window of opportunity in which to do this. Five rules about interventions which are more likely to be successful are presented: 1) the need for adequate evaluation, 2) the increased benefits of early prevention rather than later intervention, 3) intervention in multiple domains of the child’s life, 4) the importance of paying attention to treatment fidelity and professional execution, and 5) The current lack of substantive guidelines for specific interventions types. Within this context we review seven types of interventions to prevent physical aggression including: (1) promotion of physical health of mother and child, (2) increase family income, (3) increase access to existing services, (4) home visiting, (5) childcare, (6) preschool programs and (7) improving parenting. We conclude that promoting the physical health of mother and child should be more actively pursued, though additional experimental evidence is needed to clarify the relationship between health and social behaviour. An increase in family income, however, was not found by itself to help prevent the occurrence of physical aggression. An increase in access to existing services does not seem to reduce physical aggression, possibly because of the variable quality of these services. There is strong evidence that nurse home visitation programs, like the Nurse-Family Partnership, as well as some of the more rigorous preschool programs like the High/Scope Perry Preschool program, can be effective in deterring a child’s trajectory into violence, though more research in both these areas is needed and this research should be done by those who are not connected to these programs or past evaluations. Finally, we find that improving parenting through programmes like the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy programme can reduce the likelihood of violent behaviour, though, again, more experimental evidence is necessary. Overall, we argue that more experimental studies are necessary to better guide policy.

Crime Prevention by the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program

A sample of 123 young African American children living in poverty were randomly assigned to a program group that received a high-quality preschool program at ages 3 and 4 or a no-program group. Data were collected regarding them on 14 occasions, from ages 3 through 40. The program group significantly surpassed the no-program group in tested ability and performance throughout childhood; higher adult earnings and rates of employment and home ownership; half as many lifetime arrests, including fewer lifetime arrests for violent, property, and drug crimes; and fewer convictions and months sentenced. The economic return to society was $17.07 per dollar invested.