Population: Children and Schools

Preschool Children

In order to promote the social and emotional development and academic readiness of children in families with access to fewer educational resources, MDRC looks at programs to enhance the quality of preschool settings through innovative teacher-training and evidence-based strategies.

The Latest

Brief

A New Approach to Sustaining Pre-K Impacts

This study investigates whether naturally occurring lotteries, which approximate random assignment, can be used to evaluate the long-term effects of instructional alignment—standards, curricula, and assessments that build on one another from pre-K to elementary school—on children in Boston Public Schools. It concludes that they can.

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Brief

Learning More by Measuring More

Recent research has highlighted a pattern of “fadeout” of positive academic effects of pre-K as children progress into elementary school. This brief looks at examples of less frequently measured types of skills that pre-K programs may help boost in the short term and sustain over the longer term.

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Key Documents

Brief

Delivering on the Promise of Preschool: Investing in Social and Emotional Development and Early Math Skills

How do we make the most of the promise of preschool, particularly as preschool programs become universal? How do we avoid the “fade out” of early positive effects as children transition to elementary school? Part of our “Looking Forward” series, this policy memo describes how enhancing children’s social and emotional development and their early math skills may be part of the answer.

Seeking Answers to Big Questions

MDRC’s Portfolio in Early Childhood Education

Today, leaders from across the political spectrum are calling for new investments in early childhood education. But many important questions remain about how to make the most of the promise of preschool and related interventions. MDRC’s portfolio of research and demonstration projects is tackling some of the biggest ones.

Three Approaches to Preschoolers’ Social and Emotional Competence

A Summary of Impact and Implementation Findings from Head Start CARES

This two-page issue focus summarizes the main findings from Head Start CARES, a test of three distinct classroom-based approaches to enhancing children’s social-emotional development: Incredible Years Teacher Training Program, Preschool PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies), and Tools of the Mind–Play.

Building and Sustaining the Early Care and Education Workforce (BASE) Focus Area: Preschool Child Care and Early Education Job Retention and Advancement Population: Children and Schools Populations with Low Incomes Families	Variations in Implementation of Quality Interventions (VIQI): Examining the Quality-Child Outcomes Relationship in Child Care and Early Education Focus Area: Preschool Child Care and Early Education Population: Children and Schools Families	Jumpstart’s Foster Grandparent Program Evaluation Focus Area: Preschool Population: Children and Schools Intervention: School Readiness, Classroom Services Locations: California
New York City’s Lab for Equity and Engagement in School Enrollment (the E3 Lab) Focus Area: Elementary and Middle School Population: Children and Schools Intervention: Behavioral Interventions Locations: New York	Get Ready Guilford Initiative Focus Area: Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Population: Families Children and Schools Populations with Low Incomes Intervention: School Readiness, Case Management, Coordinated Care/Care Management, Home Visiting Locations: North Carolina	What Matters Most for Teachers and Young Children Focus Area: Preschool Population: Children and Schools Intervention: School Readiness, Professional Development/ Teacher Training, Classroom Services Locations: New York
The Expanding Children’s Early Learning (ExCEL) Network Focus Area: Preschool Elementary and Middle School Child Care and Early Education Population: Children and Schools Intervention: School Readiness, Professional Development/ Teacher Training, Classroom Services, Curricular/Instructional Reforms Locations: Massachusetts	The High 5s Project Focus Area: Preschool Elementary and Middle School Child Care and Early Education Population: Children and Schools Intervention: School Readiness, Professional Development/ Teacher Training, Classroom Services, Curricular/Instructional Reforms	Estimating Power for Multiple Hypothesis Tests Focus Area: Preschool Elementary and Middle School High School Population: Children and Schools
Making Pre-K Count Focus Area: Preschool Child Care and Early Education Population: Children and Schools Families Intervention: School Readiness, Professional Development/ Teacher Training, Classroom Services Locations: New York	Head Start CARES Project Focus Area: Preschool Child Care and Early Education Two-Generation Programs Population: Children and Schools Families Intervention: School Readiness, Professional Development/ Teacher Training, Classroom Services, Curricular/Instructional Reforms Locations: California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas

MDRC

Population: Children and Schools

Preschool Children

A New Approach to Sustaining Pre-K Impacts

Learning More by Measuring More

Delivering on the Promise of Preschool: Investing in Social and Emotional Development and Early Math Skills

Seeking Answers to Big Questions

Three Approaches to Preschoolers’ Social and Emotional Competence

Building and Sustaining the Early Care and Education Workforce (BASE)

Variations in Implementation of Quality Interventions (VIQI): Examining the Quality-Child Outcomes Relationship in Child Care and Early Education

Jumpstart’s Foster Grandparent Program Evaluation

New York City’s Lab for Equity and Engagement in School Enrollment (the E3 Lab)

Get Ready Guilford Initiative

What Matters Most for Teachers and Young Children

The Expanding Children’s Early Learning (ExCEL) Network

The High 5s Project

Estimating Power for Multiple Hypothesis Tests

Making Pre-K Count

Head Start CARES Project

Childhood Asthma Scan

Evaluation of Child Care Subsidy Strategies

Foundations of Learning Project

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Preschool Children

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