A Benefit Cost Analysis of the Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention.

Abstract

A commonly proposed approach to improving the educational success of children in poverty is the provision of early childhood education programs. These interventions, most notably Head Start, typically begin at age three or four and operate on a school calendar. Such programs seem able to boost cognitive scores and school success, though some evidence suggests that at least some of the effects fade out as children proceed in school (Barnett 1998). A less common approach is the provision of full-day, year round, child care and preschool services starting soon after birth. These programs can be considered more preventative in the sense that services begin before any marked educational deficit can occur. The Carolina Abecedarian Study is an experiment in the provision of intensive pre-school services to children in low-income families from infancy to five years of age. The program began in 1972, and research on program effects found that experimental group children experienced durable gains in IQ, and achievement in mathematics and reading (Campbell and Ramey 1995). Comparison of the findings for the Abecedarian preschool project to other interventions suggests that effects may be more persistent if a program is preventative, intensive, and starts very early in life (Ramey and Ramey 1998).

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