Poorest
preschoolers make big learning gains
Abbott program study finds
broad-based increase in skills
Tuesday, December 06, 2005 • BY PEGGY O'CROWLEY •
Star-Ledger Staff
Children who attended state-funded
prekindergarten in New Jersey's poorest districts made major
gains in language, literacy and math skills, according to
the largest study yet of the Abbott Preschool
Program.
The findings were hailed as an
affirmation of the expansive, and expensive, program that
served 38,000 children at a cost of $367 million in state
funds in 2004, the year the children were tested as part of
the study. The program was launched in 2000 after a long
legal battle to force the state to pay for preschool for
low-income kids.
The results are part of a larger look at
state-funded preschool programs in five states, all of which
showed gains in the development of language, literacy and
math.
"This clearly shows the investment pays
off," New Jersey Acting Commissioner of Education Lucille E.
Davy said. "Having the data helps you make the case to do
something somewhere else or to expand the
programs."
"Abbott is having a positive effect and
it's not small," said W. Steven Barnett, director of the
National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers
University. The institute conducted the New Jersey study,
"The Effects of New Jersey's Abbott Preschool Program on
Young Children's School Readiness," with the state
Department of Education. The institute also evaluated the
programs in Michigan, West Virginia, Oklahoma and South
Carolina in conjunction with their state and private
agencies.
Children in the New Jersey study scored
10 percent higher in tests of receptive (spoken) vocabulary
and math than children who had not attended the program, and
improved during the school year by about 25 percent in each
area. The receptive vocabulary scores represent an
additional four months of progress in vocabulary growth. The
math test included basic number concepts, simple addition
and subtraction, telling time and counting money.
Children also showed a 28 percent
increase in average print awareness scores, meaning they
knew more letters, and were more familiar with words and
book concepts.
The New Jersey study looked at more than
2,000 children living in 21 of the 31 Abbott districts.
Children of all ethnic or economic backgrounds improved.
Forty-four percent, were Hispanic. One-third were
African-American, nearly 20 percent were white, and the
remainder were from other ethnicities.
Barnett said the New Jersey results could
not be compared exactly to the other states, because the New
Jersey children "are way more (economically) disadvantaged"
than children in other states. Also, Oklahoma and West
Virginia offer preschool to all children regardless of
income.
The center plans to follow another sample
of children through the fourth grade to determine if these
gains continue to influence learning.
"There is a marked difference in the
children coming to the district," said Evelyn Motley,
supervisor of early childhood in Plainfield.
When Ruth Ryno began teaching
kindergarten five years ago at the Cedarbrook School in
Plainfield, many of her students did not know their colors,
and could identify few numbers or letters, she
said.
This year, nearly all of her class
attended Abbott preschool programs. "Now quite a few know
their letters, they know their numbers up to 10, they
recognize patterns and can write their first names," said
Ryno, who has taught school for 38 years.
Walter Afflitto, principal of Newark's
Abington Avenue School, said he has seen a big difference
since Abbott preschool classes were established
there.
"You can see the kids who don't go to
preschool. They're far behind," he said.
The significant improvements in
children's math and language skills contrasted sharply with
a recent study of federally funded Head Start programs, in
which children did not show gains.
Barnett said he suspects the difference
is due to the quality of the Abbott program. For instance,
all teachers in the state program must hold a bachelor's
degree and be certified in early childhood education. In
Head Start programs outside of New Jersey, teachers must
have a two-year associate's degree, or attend 120 hours of
training. New Jersey also limits class size and requires
curriculum standards.
The results also could provide an
incentive to improve the quality of the Abbott programs even
more, or expand them to middle-class districts, he said. As
of last year, 40 states had some kind of state-funded
pre-kindergarten, and universal pre-kindergarten is on the
ballot in California.
In an expansion of state-funded
pre-kindergartens, Davy said, another 101 districts
qualified for up to $33 million. And $2.6 million will fund
low-income individual children attending school in 29
higher-income districts.
The New Jersey study was funded by the
state education department, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the
Schumann Foundation for New Jersey and the Geraldine R.
Dodge Foundation.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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