POVERTY, LEARNING Program in 1960s benefited poor kids

A study documented the long-term benefits of quality preschool education.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- An experimental preschool program attended by a small group of needy Michigan children in the 1960s is still paying big benefits, according to the latest assessment of their lives.
The experiment, viewed as one of the most compelling arguments for preschool programs, identified 123 impoverished children in Ypsilanti, Mich., who were likely to fail or perform poorly in school.
Picked at random
Fifty-eight were picked at random and enrolled in the so-called High/Scope Perry Preschool Program for 3- and 4-year-olds. The other 65 were not.
According to findings reported Thursday in Washington, the former High/Scope pupils, now about 40 years old, are significantly more likely to hold jobs, earn more money and to have graduated from high school. They also commit fewer crimes than nonparticipants with comparable backgrounds.
The program's alumni are also less likely to need public assistance, according to the sixth installment of the Perry Preschool study.
The study is significant because it's one of only a few that document the long-term effects of quality preschool education. The study concluded that the program is responsible for the difference in the children's outcomes because all other factors were basically the same for participants and nonparticipants.
The absence of proven effectiveness is often cited by lawmakers who want to cut government spending on preschool programs.
Advocates hailed study
Early education advocates hail the Perry study as proof that preschool programs can provide long lasting, cost-effective results that benefit society.
By the foundation's computations, taxpayers gained about $17 for every tax dollar invested in the Perry program. The gains came mainly through lower spending for criminal justice proceedings and increased tax collection from the higher earnings of Perry alumni.
"The Perry program study has had a great impact on our understanding of the importance of investing in preschool education," said one independent analyst, Barbara Beatty, the chair of the education department at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
While some pupils benefit in the long term from these programs, other studies show that the benefits fade over time, said Krista Kafer, a senior policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy and research group in Washington.
Made a caution
She cautioned against "overblown optimism about early childhood education that the evidence does not support."
Studies that show preschool benefits fade over time typically measure only IQ, responded Steve Barnett, the director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, N.J.
Preschool-driven improvements in math, reading, social studies and science as well as improved social behavior, morality and interpersonal communication skills seldom fade, Barnett added. "And those are the things that we care about."
The implications
Head Start, the federal early education program for the poor, and state and local counterparts could enjoy successes similar to the Perry program by employing its key components, said Larry Schweinhart, the president of the High/Scope foundation.
These include giving pupils greater input on their study plans, employing teachers with bachelor's degrees, strong parent outreach efforts and pupil/teacher ratios of roughly 8-to-1, Schweinhart said.
The High/Scope Educational Research Foundation, a nonprofit educational research group in Ypsilanti, produced the study. The Chicago-based McCormick Tribune Foundation paid for it. Heath Meriwether, retired publisher of the Knight Ridder-owned Detroit Free Press, is a member of the High/Scope board.
Cuts could hurt
Proposed cuts in Head Start by the Bush administration and tight state budgets make improvements such as those proposed by High/Scope unlikely in the near future.
In a budget memo leaked in May 2004, the Bush administration proposed cutting Head Start's budget by $177 million -- about 2.5 percent -- in fiscal year 2006. The National Head Start Association, an advocacy group, estimates that such cuts would force about 37,915 children out of the Head Start programs nationwide.
XTo read the High/Scope study, go to http://www.highscope.org/Research/PerryProject/perrymain.htm