Effects of the Tennessee Prekindergarten Program on Children's Achievement and Behavior Through Third Grade
Lipsey, M. W., Farran, D. C., & Durkin, K. · 2018
grade Arctindependentunreplicatednumbers spot-checked
Sample
2,990 RCT; 1,076 intensive substudy
Population
Tennessee VPK, followed to grade 3.
Design
The grade-3 wave of the TN-VPK randomised trial.
Key findings
Documents the full trajectory: a solid positive effect at the end of pre-K, complete fadeout within one year, and a crossover to significantly negative on some measures by grade 2-3.
Counterfactual
63% home/relative care, 13% Head Start, 16% private centre.
Genetic confound
Lottery-randomised.
Replication notes
Followed by Durkin et al. (2022) to grade 6, where negative effects strengthen and reach significance.
DOI / URL
10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.03.005
Effects
| Outcome | Metric | Value | Measure | Timing | Vs | Horizon | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WJ Composite, end of pre-K | ITT d / TOT d | +0.236 / +0.395, p<.001 | standardized | end-of-treatment | business-as-usual | end-of-treatment | domain-skill |
| WJ Composite, end of kindergarten | ITT d | +0.019, p=.676 — NULL | standardized | end-of-treatment | business-as-usual | under-1yr | domain-skill |
| WJ Quantitative Concepts, grade 2 | ITT d | -0.123, p=.039 — significantly favours CONTROL | standardized | grade-3 | business-as-usual | over-2yr | domain-skill |
| WJ Composite, grade 3 | ITT d | -0.070 (ns) | standardized | grade-3 | business-as-usual | over-2yr | domain-skill |
Cited by
- Preschool at scale — Head Start, state pre-K, and what universal provision deliversmixedconf: highgc: low