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Report says program puts poorest children on track educationally

Friday, March 29, 2002

By Sally Kalson, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Children born into extreme poverty have a much better chance of succeeding in school if they receive a structured, high-quality preschool education.

That is the finding of the first research report on Pittsburgh's Early Childhood Initiative, a privately funded project in Allegheny County that was designed to afford a better start in life for children who otherwise were likely to fall far behind their classmates.

The initiative wound up being scaled way back due to financial and logistical problems, but several sites were maintained and studied.

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the UCLID Center at the University of Pittsburgh tracked the progress of more than 1,000 children enrolled in the initiative from 1997 to 2000 in Braddock, Wilkinsburg, Sto-Rox, East Liberty, South Side, Highlands School District, the Hill District, Homewood and Steel Valley.

The outcomes mirror 30 years of national research showing that early intervention puts poor children on a level playing field with their more affluent peers.

Stephen Bagnato, director of the research team, said the outcomes so far could have implications for government and private funders who want evidence that investment in early intervention programs pays off.

"ECI's community-based aspect turns out to be significant," he said. "Different communities organized different programs based on the same strategies and features, including quality mentoring, parent participation, local leadership and ongoing evaluation. Yet they all got the same positive results."

Among the findings:

The longer children participated in the Early Childhood Initiative, the more they developed and improved the skills for early school success.

Upon entering the program, 86 percent were at high risk of falling behind due to shortcomings in overall thinking, language, social and school-readiness skills. After being in the program for three years, however, they not only avoided declines but improved at an increased rate. About 14 percent of the children entered the program already showing serious delays that would qualify them for special education in Pennsylvania. But after three years in the program, those same children moved into the normal range of development, motor, language, social and thinking skills.

The 18 percent of children who entered the Early Childhood Initiative meriting a mental health diagnosis showed normal social skills and development patterns three years later.

About 125 children in the program entered kindergarten and first grade over the course of the study. Their districts average a "hold-back" rate of 23 percent, but only 2 percent of the program's children were held back.

Similarly, only 1 percent of the children were referred to special education services, compared with the average referral rate of 21 percent in their districts.

Furthermore, an end-of-year "blind" follow-up by kindergarten and first grade teachers showed that program children who had entered school performed in the average to above-average range on standardized tests.

In addition, 78 percent of Early Childhood Initiative children who entered school achieved 11 of the most important "building block" skills for school success, based on the Pennsylvania Academic Standards.

"This is very useful data showing impressive results," said Ron Grimm, superintendent of the Woodland Hills School District, an initiative partner.

"It reinforces the importance of early intervention in reducing the achievement gaps that compound over time. This program deserves to be replicated in other communities."

Bagnato said the research would continue.

"In another two years, we'll probably have 2,500 kids in similar programs across Pennsylvania," he said.