Associations of state-funded prekindergarten with early elementary literacy and absences

Abstract

Publicly funded prekindergarten (pre-K) has received substantial investments in recent decades. A robust literature base has shown that pre-K, in general, tends to be associated with shorter-term rather than longer-term impacts. Yet, these findings are not definitive across varying state contexts and student demographic groups. The current study examined state administrative literacy and absence data in kindergarten and first grade for 455 students in North Carolina's publicly funded pre-K program and 225 of their non-pre-K peers. State datasets were paired with data from an in-depth longitudinal study starting in the 2016–17 school year. Student-level characteristics (family income, maternal education, race/ethnicity, multilingual learner, and disability status) were examined as possible moderators. We found pre-K attendance was associated with higher kindergarten entry literacy scores, but these advantages diminished over time. The following groups of students continued to see some longer-term benefits of pre-K: students whose mothers had a high school diploma or less and Latine students. Pre-K was associated with fewer days absent in kindergarten and first grade, with no evidence of moderation.