The Critical Years of Education for At-Risk Students: The Impact of an Early Childhood Program on Student Learning.

The Jump Start program is a preschool program serving about 4,000 four-year-olds in a partnership including Head Start, Even Start, a tuition-based program, and the Kentucky preschool program mandated by the Kentucky Educational Reform Act (KERA). This study compared the family of Jump Start programs and a comparison group on student academic performance. Participating in the study was one cohort of students from the 1996-1997 school year who participated in free lunch programs. Academic performance was assessed with the Stanford Diagnostic Reading and Mathematics Test total battery score. The Early Childhood Student Profile provided information on student cognitive/language/literacy skills, mathematics and logic skills, and language arts. The findings showed that the Jump Start program's KERA preschool and Head Start showed higher mean scores than the comparison group in both reading and mathematics. KERA's preschool had the highest scores for both reading and mathematics. An attendance analysis showed that the Jump Start class of 1996-1997 increased their attendance pattern from preschool to grade 3. Also, participants in the Jump Start programs made significant gains in the various dimensions measured by the Early Childhood Student Profile. (Contains 23 references.) (KB) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Critical Years of Education RUNNING HEAD: The Critical Years of Education The Critical Years of Education for At-Risk Students: The Impact of an Early Childhood U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION \5( CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. ID Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. rt.1 Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Program on Student Learning Marco A. Munoz Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) VanHoose Education Center Accountability, Research, and Planning 3332 Newburg Road Louisville, KY 40218 BEST COPY AVAILABLE 2 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Max-co_ R. CrIwcyo TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 The Critical Years of Education 2 Abstract The Jump Start Program is a preschool program with the objective of providing a developmentally appropriate education for eligible children. This research study was conducted to compare the family of JUMP Start programs and the comparison group on academic performance. Only free lunch status students participating in the various JUMP Start program were compared to the control group. The findings showed that the JUMP Start programs KERA preschool and Head Start showed higher mean scores that the comparison group in both reading and mathematics. KERA's preschool had the highest scores for both reading and mathematics. This study support the concept that investing in high quality early childhood education offers academic benefits, at least when the treatment group was compared to a control group at the beginning of second grade. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.The Jump Start Program is a preschool program with the objective of providing a developmentally appropriate education for eligible children. This research study was conducted to compare the family of JUMP Start programs and the comparison group on academic performance. Only free lunch status students participating in the various JUMP Start program were compared to the control group. The findings showed that the JUMP Start programs KERA preschool and Head Start showed higher mean scores that the comparison group in both reading and mathematics. KERA's preschool had the highest scores for both reading and mathematics. This study support the concept that investing in high quality early childhood education offers academic benefits, at least when the treatment group was compared to a control group at the beginning of second grade. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.