The Georgia Early Childhood Study (2001-2004)

In 2001, the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University began the Georgia Early Childhood Study (GECS) to examine the development of Georgia’s four-year-olds. The study measured children’s skills and behaviors that indicate the extent to which the children are prepared for success in school, including language and communication skills, cognitive development, health/physical well-being, social behaviors, and attitudes toward school and learning. In addition to analyzing the development of the children from the beginning of preschool through the end of the first grade, the study examined early school success, such as on-time promotion to the second grade.

A specific focus of this study was to understand the effects of Georgia’s Prekindergarten Program (Pre-K) on four-year-olds. In 1995, Georgia became the first state to offer early education to all its four-year-olds whose parents chose to enroll them. Since Georgia’s Pre-K Program is available to all four-year-olds in the state and a majority of the eligible children attend, it is difficult to find four-year-old children in Georgia who are similar in most ways to children in Pre-K but who have not attended early childhood education programs. Therefore, this study compares four-year-olds attending Georgia’s Pre-K Program with children who attended other early childhood education programs. The study includes children enrolled in Head Start and children enrolled in private preschools or childcare centers, which were collectively labeled preschool. In 2002, a group of children who did not participate in formal, full-day preschool was added.