In 2011-2012, the Georgia legislature funded a series of ongoing studies to evaluate Georgia's Pre-K Program. The first study, conducted in 2011-2012, was designed to examine children’s learning outcomes during pre-k, the factors that predict better outcomes, and the quality of children’s experiences in Georgia's Pre-K classrooms based on a random sample of 100 classrooms and 509 children within those classrooms. The second study, conducted in 2012-2013, was designed to investigate the effects of participation in Georgia's Pre-K on children’s school readiness skills, and whether those effects are similar for different groups of children. This study utilized a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to compare children who had and had not attended the program, and included 1,181 children (611 treated and 570 untreated). The third study, occurring from 2013-2018, involves a longitudinal design to follow a sample of 1,169 children from pre-k through third grade, in order to examine the short- and long-term learning outcomes for children who attended Georgia's Pre-K as well as the quality of their preschool and school experiences.
The current report focuses on the results of the second year of this longitudinal study—the 2014-2015 Georgia's Pre-K Program Evaluation. The purpose of this evaluation study was to examine initial longitudinal outcomes related to school readiness for children and the quality of their classrooms from pre-k through kindergarten. The primary evaluation questions addressed included:
- What are the learning outcomes through kindergarten for children attending Georgia's Pre-K Program?
- What factors predict better learning outcomes for children?
- What is the quality of children’s experiences in pre-k and kindergarten?
You may download the executive summary of the findings and/or the full report.
