A Council for a Better Louisiana study shows even just one year of early childhood education can substantially boost long-term academic success.
The LA 4 Longitudinal High School Outcomes Study compared and contrasted the academic results of 40,000 different students, some of whom were in the LA 4 Pre-K program, and other who did not receive a year of early childhood education. It found major gaps in performance between the two groups.
CABL President Barry Irwin said they compared the effects of just one year of pre-K for four-year-olds compared to students who received no pre-K and saw a startling difference.
“It showed for a lot of these students, and these were low-income students primarily, that there really were benefits all through high school,” said Erwin.
Erwin said they tracked key metrics and found not only were there demonstrable benefits early in students’ academic careers, but those benefits also lasted through high school.
Per the study, LA 4 participation increased on-time graduation by 4%, TOPS qualification rates by about 10%, Algebra scores by 12%, Biology scores by 9%, Geometry scores by 8%, English 2 scores by 8%, and lowered special education placement rates by 45%.
“Most students, they graduated on time, they graduated at high graduation rates even compared to the state averages, their LEAP scores were 10, 12 sometimes even higher than that than other kids,” said Erwin who argued this performance increase would increase further with more than just one year of pre-K.
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