The Impact of Making PreK Count on Short and Longer-Term Outcomes

This cluster-randomized trial assesses the immediate and longer-run impacts of the Making Pre-K Count (MPC) preschool math intervention. The study sample included 2715 children with an average age of 4.2 years (51.3% female, 54% Hispanic, 39% non-Hispanic Black, 4.3% other/multiracial and 3.3% Non-Hispanic White). The study explored impacts on a range of outcomes including math, literacy, and executive function skills, as well as special education placement and retention in grade for older students. The study also explored variation in impacts across several subgroups including the preschool venue (public vs. community based), and student incoming skill level. At the end of pre-K, the program had no statistically significant impacts on children’s math competencies, as measured by the ECLS-B and WJ Applied Problems tests but did have positive and statistically significant impacts for some subgroups on some outcomes. MPC had a positive but not statistically significant impact on third-grade math skills (ES = 0.10, p = 0.18) measured by the state assessment, but again had positive and statistically significant impacts for some subgroups on some outcomes.

Publication: Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness