David weikart perry preschool program

Early childhood education research project

The HighScope Educational Research Foundation (known as HighScope or High/Scope) studies methods of early childhood education based on the methods of the Perry Preschool study.^[1] It was founded in by psychologist David Weikart.

The Perry Preschool research has been noted for its "large effects on educational attainment, income, criminal activity, and other important life outcomes, sustained adequately into adulthood".^[2][3]

The philosophy behind HighScope is based on child progress theory and research, originally drawing on the work of Jean Piaget and John Dewey.^[4] The curriculum was further developed to incorporate Lev Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and Jerome Bruner's related strategy of adult scaffolding.

This method emphasizes the role of adults to support each child at their current developmental level and help them create upon it under a model of "shared control," where activities are both child-initiated and adult-guided.^[5][6] The adults working with the children see themselves more as facilitators or partners, rather than as managers or supervisors.

Among the most notable and longstanding secondary prevention programs considered was the High/Scope Perry Preschool Undertaking of Ypsilanti, MI This Bulletin examines this successful program model, which demonstrates a potential link between early childhood in- tervention and delinquency prevention.

Original study

The original study was conducted from in Ypsilanti, Michigan under the guidance of psychologist David Weikart and Perry Elementary School leading Charles Eugene Beatty.^[1][7] It was intended to boost the cognitive skills of disadvantaged African American children with low IQs.^[3][8]

Families were randomly assigned to one of two groups: the intervention and a control group.

For 2 years during the regular educational facility year (39 weeks a year), year old children would appear to a classroom for 2 and a half hours a day. Students worked on projects where "they planned tasks, they executed tasks, and then they reviewed the tasks collectively."^[3] The intervention also included weekly visits by the teachers to the homes of the children for about hours per visit to improve parent-child interactions at home.^[9]

Results

By the time children were 10, there wasn't much of a difference in how children in the two groups performed on tests of cognitive ability.

Because the study was conducted in the s, researchers have been able to follow the children who went through the Perry Preschool Program through adulthood. Economist and Nobel laureate James Heckman has found that adults from the treatment group were "much more likely to graduate elevated school, much more likely to make earnings, much more likely to go on to college, much less likely to commit crime."^[3] At age 19, 67% of the preschool group graduated high school, compared to only 49% of the control collective.

59% of the preschool collective was employed, and 32% of the control group. Within the preschool group, 38% went to pursued higher education, while only 21% of the control organization did. There was a 20 percentage point difference between the two groups in regards to having ever been detained or arrested (31% for the preschool group, 51% for the control).^[10]

Heckman also found multigenerational benefits of the program: children of participants in the program appear to have benefitted.

According to Heckman, "We find some very tough effects. The children of the participants are healthier. The children of the participants are also earning more. They have enhanced social and emotional skills, are more likely to graduate lofty school and go on to college, less likely to hire in the criminal justice system, so they're less likely to be incarcerated or even contain ever been arrested."^[3]

Analysis

Heckman finds that the work with the parents was an important distinguishing component of the program, particularly because the parents stay in the children's lives beyond the program's 2-year duration.

He also finds that the quality of the teachers (and consequently the expense of the program) was a critical component that allowed it to succeed in comparison with other, less expensive interventions.^[3]

Due to the results, the organization Social Projects that Work finds the study as a strong candidate for further research, but warns that the study was relatively small ( subjects; after dropouts).^[2]

Cost-effectiveness

James Heckman estimates that the Perry Project saved society $7 to $12 for every $1 invested, mostly due to reduced crime.^[11][12] HighScope itself reports that for every tax dollar invested in the early care and teaching program, $7 are saved for taxpayers by the time the participant is 27 years aged, $13 are saved for tax payers by the time the participant is 40 years ancient, and that there is a $16 total return including increased income to the participants.^[13][14] Spot also Heckman, Moon, Pinto, Savelyev, & Yavitz (a, b).^[15][16]

See also

Notes

References

• Hohmann, M., Weikart, D., & Epstein, A. S. ().
  The 58 children in the program group entered the high-quality preschool program, while the no-program organization, consisting of the other 65 identified children, received no formal preschool programming. The Perry Venture led to a longitudinal analyze to follow the Perry Preschool participants throughout their lives. This landmark study, dubbed the Perry Preschool Study, established the durable human and financial value of early childhood education and led to the establishment of the HighScope Educational Research Foundation. The Longitudinal Study: Perry — Through Age 40 The longitudinal explore found that at age 40, participants who experienced the preschool program: Were less likely to experience teenage pregnancy Were more likely to graduate from lofty school Were more likely to maintain employment and have higher earnings Were less likely to commit crimes Were more likely to own a home and a car.

  Educating young children (3rd ed.). Ypsilanti, MI: HighScope Press.

• "What Is the History of HighScope?" - Provided by YMCA Child Care Services
• Schweinhart, L. J., Barnes, H. V., & Weikart, D. P. (). Significant benefits: The HighScope Perry Preschool Analyze through age Ypsilanti, MI: HighScope Press.
• Schweinhart, L.

  J., Montie, J., Xiang, Z., Barnett, W. S., Belfield, C. R., & Nores, M. (). Lifetime effects: The HighScope Perry Preschool Examine through age Ypsilanti, MI: HighScope Press. (Freely available summary version)

External links