Robin Hood Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation and the Overdeck Family Foundation are funding a study to determine what makes PreK successful. Here is a brief overview of the study:
The Participants: The study involves children in Brooklyn, who attend Public School 221 in Crown Heights. It will track roughly 4,000 children who enter prekindergarten in 69 schools and community-based organizations next fall, and continue following them through at least the third grade.
The Purpose: To gauge whether a certain math curriculum can create lasting improvement in students’ math and language skills, as well as their likelihood to persevere in the face of academic challenges
The Research Design: Half of them will get the curriculum, called Building Blocks, and the other half will not. Later on, if there is sufficient funding, a subset of each group will get a supplementary math program in kindergarten, in small groups or in the form of intensive tutoring.
The Idea: According to Michael Weinstein, Chief Program Office, "he was interested in the promise of early childhood education to fight poverty, but unsatisfied by the existing research, which did not provide clear guidance as to which programs were the most cost effective."
What do you think it takes to make prekindergarten successful? Read more about this study HERE
