Follow-up through Middle School of a Randomized Study of Public Prekindergarten

描述（由申请人提供）：通过公立幼儿园项目摘要的随机研究中学的后续行动（30行）学前教育计划的积极影响的实验证据来自学前教育计划的研究，这些计划比当前的公立幼儿园模式更密集，并且没有在相同的规模上实施典型的当代公立学前教育。虽然这一点没有得到广泛的认可，但事实上，还没有一个对典型的公立学前教育项目进行纵向跟踪的对照实验研究，来揭示这些项目是否产生了预期的长期效果。本申请提出了一个国家资助的公立幼儿园前计划，特别是田纳西州自愿学前教育计划（TN-VPK）的大型随机对照试验的后续行动，通过中学。TN-VPK为有资格享受联邦免费或减价午餐计划的儿童提供服务，要求每个教室有一名有执照的教师和一名助手，最多20名儿童的班级规模，以及州政府批准的课程。该申请建议对3008名被随机分配参加或不参加TN-VPK的儿童进行四年级至八年级的随访。每年从国家数据库收集所有儿童的数据，并在父母同意下单独收集1076名儿童的子样本。迄今为止，TN-VPK研究的结果显示了其他更密集的幼儿计划的纵向研究通常发现的结果：参与计划后立即产生广泛的积极结果，并在较长时间内产生混合效应。对成就测量的影响往往会逐渐消失，但行为/非认知效应，如较低的年级保留率，较高的毕业率，减少犯罪等开始出现。本申请中提出的研究的程序目的是：（a）通过田纳西州教育数据系统每年收集关于成就和行为/非认知结果的数据，跟踪整个中学的完全随机化样本（N=3008），以及（B）每年从大约700名儿童的子样本中收集额外的更广泛的数据。在中学期间，教学材料变得更具挑战性，孩子们需要对他们的学习承担更大的责任，问题行为经常出现，包括许多其他人发现受到幼儿影响的行为/非认知影响。解决本研究具体目标所需的主要分析分为三类：（a）估计TN-VPK参与对小学后期和中学成绩的主要影响;（B）探讨TN-VPK对某些结果的影响程度（自我调节，学校参与，同伴关系），这是明显的小学年级结束时介导的效果，对成绩，其他学术成果，和问题行为的结果在中学结束;和（c）调查TN-VPK的主要影响和/或介导的影响，对各种结果的程度是由所就读的学校的质量或学生的人口统计学特征调节。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Follow-up through Middle School of a Randomized Study of Public Prekindergarten Project Summary (30 lines) The experimental evidence for positive effects of prekindergarten programs comes from studies of preschool programs that are more intensive than the current public prekindergarten models and which were not implemented on the same scale as typical contemporary public pre-k. Though it is not widely recognized, there are in fact no well-controlled experimental studies of typical public prekindergarten programs with longitudinal follow-up that would reveal whether such programs produce the expected long-term effects. This application proposes a follow-up through middle school of a large randomized control trial of a state-funded public prekindergarten program, specifically the Tennessee Voluntary Pre-K Program (TN-VPK). TN-VPK serves children eligible for the federal free or reduced price lunch programs, requires a licensed teacher and an aide in each classroom, a maximum class size of 20 children, and a state-approved curriculum. This application proposes a follow-up from 4th grade through 8th grade of 3008 children who were randomly assigned to participate or not in TN-VPK. Data were collected annually from the state database for all children and individually for a subsample of 1076 children with parental consent. The findings of the TN-VPK study to date have shown what other longitudinal studies of more intensive early childhood programs have generally found: a wide range of positive outcomes immediately after program participation and mixed effects over a longer term. The effects on achievement measures often fade out, but behavioral/non-cognitive effects such as lower grade retention, higher graduation rates, decreased delinquency, and the like begin to emerge. The procedural aims of the research proposed in this application are to (a) follow the full randomized sample (N=3008) through middle school with annual data collection on achievement and behavioral/non-cognitive outcomes from the Tennessee state education data system, and (b) collect additional more extensive data annually from the children and their parents and teachers for a subsample of approximately 700 children. During middle school the instructional material becomes more challenging, children are required to take greater responsibility for their learning, and problem behaviors often emerge, including many of the behavioral/non-cognitive effects others have found to be influenced by early childhood. The major analyses required to address the specific aims of this research fall into three categories: (a) estimation of the main effects o TN-VPK participation on late elementary and middle school outcomes; (b) exploration of the extent to which TN-VPK effects on some of those outcomes (self-regulation, school engagement, peer relations) that are evident by the end of the elementary grades mediate the effects on achievement, other academic outcomes, and problem behavior outcomes at the end of middle school; and (c) investigation of the extent to which TN-VPK main effects and/or mediated effects on the various outcomes are moderated by the quality of the schools attended or demographic characteristics of the students.