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

描述(由申请人提供)：通过中学跟踪公办幼儿园项目随机研究摘要(30行)幼儿园项目积极影响的实验证据来自对幼儿园项目的研究，这些项目比目前的公办幼儿园模式更密集，而且没有像典型的当代公办幼儿园项目那样以同样的规模实施。虽然没有得到广泛的认可，但事实上还没有对典型的公共幼儿园前项目进行良好控制的实验研究，并进行纵向跟踪，以揭示这些项目是否产生预期的长期效果。这项申请建议在整个中学跟踪一个国家资助的公立幼儿园项目的大型随机对照试验，特别是田纳西州自愿学前教育计划(TN-VPK)。TN-VPK为符合联邦免费或降价午餐计划的儿童提供服务，每个教室需要一名有执照的教师和一名助手，每班最多20名儿童，以及州批准的课程。这项申请建议从4年级到8年级对3008名随机分配参加TN-VPK或不参与TN-VPK的儿童进行跟踪调查。每年从州数据库收集所有儿童的数据，并在父母同意的情况下单独收集1076名儿童的数据。到目前为止，TN-VPK研究的结果表明，其他对更密集的儿童早期计划的纵向研究通常发现：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影响。对成绩测量的影响通常会逐渐消失，但行为/非认知影响开始显现，如较低的年级保留率、较高的毕业率、较低的违约率等。本申请中提出的研究的程序目标是：(A)从田纳西州教育数据系统中每年收集关于成绩和行为/非认知结果的数据，跟踪整个随机样本(N=3008)到中学，以及(B)每年从儿童及其父母和教师那里收集更多更广泛的数据，以获得大约700名儿童的子样本。在中学期间，教学材料变得更具挑战性，儿童被要求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童年早期影响的行为/非认知影响。为了达到本研究的具体目的，本研究所需要的主要分析分为三类：(A)估计TN-VPK参与对小学和中学后期成绩的主要影响；(B)探索TN-VPK对小学结束时的某些结果(自我调节、学校参与、同伴关系)的影响在多大程度上中介了对成就、其他学业成绩和中学结束时的问题行为结果的影响；以及(C)调查TN-VPK对各种结果的主要影响和/或中介影响在多大程度上受到所上学校的质量或学生的人口特征的影响。

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.