Evaluation of North Carolina Early Childhood Program Among Middle School Students

Kenneth Dodge, Helen Ladd, Clara Muschkin, and Yu Bai have published a series of academic articles evaluating the impact of North Carolina’s Smart Start (SS) and More at Four (MF) programs (now known as NC Pre-K) on children’s academic outcomes through elementary school (Ladd et al., 2014; Muschkin et al. 2015; Muschkin et al. 2018; Dodge et al. 2018). The current analysis extends the evaluation of the same students over the course of middle school, through the end of Grade 8. Two main research questions are asked: First, did each program continue to have a positive impact on math and reading test scores, decrease the likelihood of being placed in special education service, and reduce the probability of being a grade repeater? Second, did program impacts differ significantly across subgroups within the population, defined by maternal education, family income, and the child’s race? This evaluation was motivated in part by inconsistent findings from other studies of early childhood programs, suggesting that, in some cases, initial program effects might fade out as students progress through school. The researchers find that the long-term impacts of Smart Start and NC Pre-K (More at Four) remain significant at least through the end of Grade 8.
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