
The Effects of Full-Day Prekindergarten: Experimental Evidence of Impacts on Children's School Readiness
Atteberry, Allison; Bassok, Daphna; Wong, Vivian C. (2019). Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, v41 n4 p537-562. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1232366
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examining202Students, gradesPK-K
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: March 2023
- Single Study Review (findings for Full-day prekindergarten—Atteberry et al. (2019))
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
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Early Screening Inventory - Revised (ESI-R) |
Full-day prekindergarten—Atteberry et al. (2019) vs. Half-day prekindergarten—Atteberry et al. (2019) |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- |
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) |
Full-day prekindergarten—Atteberry et al. (2019) vs. Half-day prekindergarten—Atteberry et al. (2019) |
0 Days |
Full sample;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
|
|
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 51%
Male: 49% -
Suburban, Urban
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Colorado
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Race Other or unknown 88% White 12% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 74% Other or unknown 26% -
Eligible for Free and Reduced Price Lunch Free or reduced price lunch (FRPL) 74% No FRPL 4% Other or unknown 22%
Study Details
Setting
The study took place in the Westminster Public Schools district, which is located near Denver, Colorado. The exact number of schools is not provided.
Study sample
A total of 202 prekindergarten students were included in the study. Students eligible to be included in the analysis were those who applied to enroll in full-day prekindergarten. Fifty-one percent of the students were female. Seventy-four percent of students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch and 22% had unknown free or reduced-price lunch eligibility. Twelve percent of the students were White and the race of other students is not reported. Seventy four percent of students were Hispanic or Latino.
Intervention Group
Students assigned to the intervention condition were offered full-day, full-week prekindergarten. Specifically, students attended school 6 hours a day for 5 days a week. The classes were taught by teachers with a bachelor's degree and used the Little Treasures curriculum from McGraw-Hill. Eighty-six percent of students who were offered the intervention attended the program.
Comparison Group
The comparison condition is part-day, part-week prekindergarten. Specifically, students attended school 3 hours a day for 4 days a week. Other aspects of the classroom were the same as that for the intervention condition, including staff qualifications, teacher-to-child ratios, curriculum, and the proportion of the school time spent on academic activities. Sixty-two percent of students who were assigned to the comparison condition attended the program.
Support for implementation
No implementation support is described in the study.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
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The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
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Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).