Tulsa Public Schools Research Articles

Exploring the predictors of enrollment and kindergarten entry skills of Spanish-speaking dual language learners in a mixed-delivery system of public preschool

Dual language learners (DLLs) – young children learning and developing in multiple languages – make up nearly-one-third of the population of public preschool attendees in the U.S. Yet despite the large number of DLLs attending the nation’s largest public preschool programs – Head Start and state-funded public pre-k – little is known about DLL families’ patterns of selection into each program, nor about the relative benefits of each program for DLLs’ early learning. The present study uses contemporary data from a mixed-delivery system of public preschool in Tulsa, Oklahoma to examine predictors of attending Head Start or Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) pre-k, as well as whether program type is associated with differences in DLLs’ kindergarten entry skills. Among DLLs from economically-disadvantaged families, we find some limited differences between DLLs who selected into TPS public pre-k versus Head Start: TPS public pre-k attenders were more likely to have married mothers, parents who chose a preschool program based on logistical opportunities/constraints rather than programmatic preferences, and greater attention/impulse control skills at the start of preschool than were Head Start attenders. We then examined the association between program type and children’s academic and self-regulation skills at kindergarten entry. Controlling for predictors of differential enrollment and children’s earlier skills, we find no differences in kindergarten skills across students who attended Head Start and TPS public pre-k, suggesting both programs prepare DLLs equally well for school success.

Universal Pre-K and College Enrollment: Is There a Link?

In this study, we used data from a cohort of 4,033 Tulsa kindergarten students to investigate the relationship between pre-K enrollment and later college enrollment. Specifically, we tested whether participation in the Tulsa Public Schools universal pre-K program and the Tulsa Community Action Project (CAP) Head Start program predicted enrollment in 2- or 4-year colleges. We used propensity score weighting with multiply imputed data sets to estimate these associations. We found that college enrollment was 12 percentage points higher for Tulsa pre-K alumni compared with former students who did not attend Tulsa pre-K or Head Start. College enrollment was 7.5 percentage points higher for Head Start alumni compared to former students who did not attend Head Start or Tulsa pre-K, but this difference was only marginally significant. Tulsa pre-K attendance was associated with 2-year college enrollment among students from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, but only among Black and Hispanic students did it strongly predict 4-year college enrollment.

From preschool to politics: Early socialization in Tulsa

Voting in an election can be a complicated process, requiring both knowledge and motivation. According to the “primacy principle” and theories of “human capital formation,” early childhood learning has the potential to shape attitudes and behaviors later in life. If correct, these theories suggest that early childhood education could help develop skills necessary for voting. Using data from Tulsa Public Schools (TPS), we identify 4033 students who entered kindergarten in the fall of 2006. Approximately half of those students were enrolled in universal pre-K the year before. We then identify which of these students registered to vote and actually voted in the two years after they turned 18. Using propensity score weighting, we find that students enrolled in pre-K were more likely to register to vote and to vote in an election than those not enrolled in pre-K. We explore potential paths through which pre-K might increase civic participation. We find that pre-K increases both cognitive and socio-emotional skills and that an increase in these skills is associated with an increase in registering to vote (cognitive) and actual voting (cognitive and socio-emotional).

Race, School Discipline, and Magnet Schools

School environment plays an important role in student outcomes. Increasingly, research has also highlighted the role school environment plays in the White–Black suspension gap. We test whether magnet schools reduce the White–Black suspension gap using data from Tulsa Public Schools. Using student-level and incident-level data from Tulsa, Oklahoma, we explore whether Black students receive exclusionary discipline at lower rates in magnet schools than in traditional schools compared with White students. Using matching techniques to minimize selection bias, we find that magnet schools in Tulsa are associated with a reduction in the racial suspension gap. In magnet schools in Tulsa, we do not find a racial gap in severity of incident or days assigned.

Do better schools help to prolong early childhood education effects?

As scholars investigate factors to prolong early childhood education (ECE) effects on student achievement, a neglected hypothesis is that subsequent school quality promotes this goal. We test this, using data from 1844 students who attended kindergarten in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) in 2006 and who were identifiable in the school district a decade later. Approximately half of those students attended an ECE program. We establish a close link between school quality and magnet schools which we use as a proxy for higher quality schools. Using propensity score weighting with multiple imputation, we find that ECE alumni are more likely to attend a magnet middle school and a magnet high school. We find that magnet middle school attendance yields higher test scores, after controlling for multiple variables. We conclude that higher quality middle schools could help school districts to sustain short-term gains from ECE for a diverse cross-section of students.

The Effects of Tulsa's Pre‐K Program on Middle School Student Performance

AbstractAs states have upgraded their commitment to pre‐K education over the past two decades, questions have arisen. Critics argue that program effects are likely to fade out or disappear over time, while supporters contend that program effects are likely to persist under certain conditions. Using data from Tulsa Public Schools, three neighboring school districts, and the state of Oklahoma, and propensity score weighting, we estimate the effects of Tulsa's universal, school‐based pre‐K program on multiple measures of academic progress for middle school students. We find enduring effects on math achievement test scores, enrollment in honors courses, and grade retention for students as a whole, and similar effects for certain subgroups. We conclude that some positive effects of a high‐quality pre‐K program are discernible as late as middle school.

The dog that didn’t bark: Preschool education and middle-school attitudes in Tulsa

ABSTRACTTo examine associations between participation in Tulsa’s preschool programs and a set of middle-school attitudes, we used propensity score weighting to compare the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) pre-K participants and, separately, the Community Action Project (CAP) Head Start participants to students who had attended neither TPS pre-K nor Head Start as 4-year olds. In the context of very few significant findings, positive associations were found between pre-K participation (in both the TPS pre-K and CAP Head Start programs) and the students’ attitudes about grit as assessed with the goal-setting subscale. Head Start participation was also associated with more cautionary views of risky sexual behavior. The results are discussed with regard to prevailing hypotheses guiding research on long-term pre-K impacts, measurement challenges, and expectations of pre-K education.

The effects of Tulsa's CAP Head Start program on middle-school academic outcomes and progress.

This study presents evidence pertinent to current debates about the lasting impacts of early childhood educational interventions and, specifically, Head Start. A group of students who were first studied to examine the immediate impacts of the Tulsa, Oklahoma, Community Action Project (CAP) Head Start program were followed-up in middle school, primarily as 8th graders. Using ordinary least squares and logistic regressions with a rich set of controls and propensity score weighting models to account for differential selection into Head Start, we compared students who had attended the CAP Head Start program and enrolled in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) as kindergarteners with children who also attended TPS kindergarten but had attended neither CAP Head Start nor the TPS pre-K program as 4-year-olds. CAP Head Start produced significant positive effects on achievement test scores in math and on both grade retention and chronic absenteeism for middle-school students as a whole; positive effects for girls on grade retention and chronic absenteeism; for white students on math test scores; for Hispanic students on math test scores and chronic absenteeism, and for students eligible for free lunches on math test scores, grade retention, and chronic absenteeism. We conclude that the Tulsa CAP Head Start program produced significant and consequential effects into the middle school years. (PsycINFO Database Record

A Benefit-Cost Analysis of the Tulsa Universal Pre-K Program

In this paper, benefits and costs are estimated for a universal pre-K program, provided by Tulsa Public Schools. Benefits are derived from estimated effects of Tulsa pre-K on retention by grade 9. Retention effects are projected to dollar benefits from future earnings increases and crime reductions. Based on these estimates, Tulsa pre-K has benefits that exceed costs by about 2-to-1. This benefit cost ratio is far less than the much higher benefit-cost ratios (ranging from 8-to-1 to 16-to-1) for more targeted and intensive pre-K programs, such as Perry Preschool and the Chicago Child-Parent Center (CPC) program. Comparing benefit-cost results from different studies suggests that our more modest estimates are due to two factors: 1) smaller percentage effects of pre-K on future earnings and crime in Tulsa than in Perry and CPC, and 2) smaller baseline crime rates in Tulsa than in the Perry and CPC comparison groups.

Successful Concurrent Programs: An EXCELerate Program in Oklahoma

The article presents the implementation and findings of a successful collaborative effort with the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (OSRHE), Tulsa Community College (TCC), and two local public school districts, Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) and Union Public Schools (UPS). Known as EXCELerate, it's a five-semester dual enrollment pilot program that received state policy exceptions for juniors and seniors to enroll in dual enrollment courses and supportive resources from the participating agencies. Whereas the traditional dual enrollment student is White and college-going, the program's intent was to increase the number of high school students who may be first-generation, lower-socioeconomic, ethnic or non-ethnic. The article identifies three major barriers to successful dual enrollment and completion: state policy, financial issues, and transportation. It also examines how these barriers were eliminated through a collaborative effort. The results demonstrate that over 87% of the juniors and seniors persisted over the semesters, and enrollment tripled among African American and Latino students. The article is constructed to benefit further research and practical application for urban and rural community colleges.

Social-Emotional Effects of Early Childhood Education Programs in Tulsa

This article assesses the effects of Tulsa, Oklahoma's early childhood education programs on social-emotional outcomes, examining teacher ratings of children's behavior from the Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention and a measure of attentiveness using fixed effects regressions with propensity score matching. The sample includes 2,832 kindergarten students in 2006, of whom 1,318 participated in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) pre-K program and 363 participated in the CAP of Tulsa County Head Start program the previous year. Program participation was associated with lower timidity and higher attentiveness for TPS pre-K alumni and a marginally significant reduction in timidity for Head Start alumni. Results were similar for the free lunch-eligible subsample. We conclude that high-quality, school-based preschool programs can enhance social-emotional development.

It's All About Kids: Preventing Overweight in Elementary School Children in Tulsa, OK

In response to the increased incidence of child overweight, a school-based program, It's All About Kids, was designed by the Tulsa Health Department, Tulsa Public Schools, and community partners to improve food choices and increase physical activity of students in first through fifth grade. The nutrition component consisted of six weekly 30-minute experiential, age-appropriate classroom lessons, including healthful-eating food games, taste-testing foods, whole-grain bread baking, information on portion sizes, and food demonstrations. Documenting and evaluating school-based intervention programs is critical for setting evidence-based health policy, justifying funding, and achieving broader implementation of successful interventions. To evaluate the effectiveness of the It's All About Kids nutrition component in fourth-grade children, we conducted a controlled trial from 20 fourth-grade classes in five intervention and five comparison Title I public schools. Evaluation included 140 fourth-grade students, including 69 in the comparison group and 71 in the intervention group. Outcomes were measured by pre-, post-, and follow-up tests using a modified version of the Pathways Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviors questionnaire and the Child and Adolescent Trial of Cardiovascular Health (CATCH) Food Checklist. Data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance over time controlling for sex, paired samples t tests, and independent samples t tests. Intervention students had significant improvements in knowledge of which food had more fat ( P<0.043). Intervention students' behavioral intent scale scores for food choice intentions improved significantly ( P<0.014). Self-reported consumption of saturated fat and sodium improved considerably in both intervention and comparison students. We conclude that results support a broader program implementation. More reinforcement over time may be needed to sustain the level of improvement.

Promoting School Readiness in Oklahoma

Since the mid-1990s, three states, including Oklahoma, have established a universal pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program. We analyze the effects of Oklahoma’s universal pre-kindergarten (pre-K) program for four-year-olds on children in Tulsa Public Schools (TPS). The main difficulty with testing the causal impact of a voluntary pre-K program is that certain parents are more likely to select pre-K, and these parents might have other unobservable characteristics that influence the test outcomes of their children. Because TPS administered an identical test in September 2001 to children just beginning pre-K and children just beginning kindergarten, we can compare test outcomes of “old” pre-kindergarten students to test outcomes of “young” kindergarten students who attended pre-K the previous year. We find that the Tulsa pre-K program increases cognitive/knowledge scores by approximately 0.39 standard deviation, motor skills scores by approximately 0.24 standard deviation, and language scores by approximately 0.38 standard deviation. Impacts tend to be largest for Hispanics, followed by blacks, with little impact for whites. Children who qualify for a free lunch have larger impacts than other children.

School Book Selection: Procedures, Challenges, and Responses

Wisdom is often hindsight, but a few years back a grand jury investigation into the book selection system and purchases of the Tulsa Public Schools provided impetus for the district to educate itself about censorship. A collection of poetry by a black writer and the short film, Lottery, were the first skirmishes in a censorship war that had citizens and educators choosing sides. Like most civil wars, there was no winner but much damage. The most insidious was the spread of suspicion and lack of trust in the curricula of the district. The

Clubs: Chi Alpha Mu Junior Mathematics Clubs

Chi Alpha Mu is the national mathematics club for junior high and upper-middle-school students. The Greek letters stand for Creative Adventures in Mathematics-the goal of the organization. Chi Alpha Mu is the brainchild of Sarah M. Burkhart, who initiated the program in three schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1967. By 1978 there were sixty-five clubs in about a dozen states and nearly sixty-three hundred members. The group affiliated with NCTM about that time. Sarah Burkhart's death last April left a void, but Jack Skelton, Instructional Assistant for Secondary Mathematics, Tulsa Public Schools, P.O. Box 45208, Tulsa, OK 74145, has agreed to coordinate the administrative affairs of the national office. Inquiries to Jack Skelton will be answered with a public-relations kit providing information on goals, rules, dues, and benefits.