The Effects of State Prekindergarten Programs on Young Children’s School Readiness in Five States

This study estimated the effects of five state-funded preschool programs on entering kindergartners' academic skills using a rigorous research design. Receptive vocabulary, early literacy and math skills were assessed in a sample of 5071 children from Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia. We found these state-funded preschool programs to have statistically significant and meaningful impacts on children’s early language, literacy and mathematical development, with some evidence of an enhanced program effect for print awareness skills for children in low- income families.