Does free pre-K education have predictable and cost-effective positive impacts on children’s academic success? According to new correlational analyses, the positive associations between NAEP scores and earlier pre-K enrollment are small and typically not statistically significant, and there is no association between differences among states in their gains in state pre-K enrollment and their gains in adjusted NAEP scores. Under the most favorable scenario for state pre-K that can be constructed from these data, increasing pre-K enrollment by 10 percent would raise a state’s adjusted NAEP scores by a little less than one point five years later and have no influence on the unadjusted NAEP scores. To learn more, read “More Evidence That Benefits of Government-Funded Pre-K Are Overblown” on the EdNext.org blog.
—Education Next
