Pre-Kindergarten Impacts Over Time: An Analysis of KIPP Charter Schools
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Pre-Kindergarten Impacts Over Time: An Analysis of KIPP Charter Schools

Published: Aug 22, 2017
Publisher: Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research
Human Services Early Childhood Child Development Early Childhood Systems Education Literacy and Numeracy School Choice and Charters Research and Evaluation Policy Analysis

Associated Project

Assessing the Long-Term Impacts of KIPP Middle Schools on College Enrollment and Persistence

Time frame: 2018-2019

Prepared for:

Arnold Ventures

Authors

Virginia Knechtel

Thomas Coen

Pia Caronongan

Nickie Fung

Lisbeth Goble

Key Findings

Key Findings:

  • After five years, KIPP Pre-K combined, with KIPP early elementary school, has positive and statistically significant impacts on reading and math achievement.
  • KIPP Pre-K combined, with KIPP early elementary school, may also have a positive impact on students’ executive function.
  • KIPP Pre-K may provide an additional benefit for reading achievement above and beyond KIPP elementary school.
  • The KIPP impact on reading skills persists over time, but impacts on reading comprehension largely dissipate by grade 2. 
This study builds on a previous study of KIPP elementary schools to estimate the impact of an offer of admission to a KIPP Pre-K program and explore whether any impacts persist as students advance beyond kindergarten. Mathematica found that the cumulative academic impacts of KIPP Pre-K and early elementary school are large and statistically significant after five years. The study also found suggestive evidence that KIPP Pre-K may provide an added benefit above and beyond that of KIPP elementary schools without Pre-K and that students who won an offer of admission to KIPP Pre-K appear to maintain an academic advantage over their peers who did not win such an offer on one of two measures of reading achievement as they complete grade 2. Taken together, these results provide preliminary evidence that KIPP Pre-K positively affects student achievement and the impact persists to some degree once students reach grade 2.

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