About this srcd poster session

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Panel information
Panel 18. School Readiness/Childcare

Abstract

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State funding for pre-kindergarten in North Carolina has been associated, in prior studies, with higher elementary-school academic achievement scores for funded students (Watts et al., 2023) and for the population at the county level (Bai et al., 2022; Dodge et al., 2017; Ladd, Muschkin, & Dodge, 2015; Watts et al., 2023). However, it is unknown whether this targeted program also has effects on non-funded peers. The current study examined spillover effects of North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten (NC Pre-K) Program funding on academic outcomes for non-funded children.

There is some evidence that pre-kindergarten programs can have effects beyond those treated (Botvin et al., 2024; List et al., 2023). Such spillover could be positive (synergistic) or negative (adverse). Possible avenues to synergistic spillover of pre-kindergarten include peer modeling and reinforcement during direct interaction among children; improved teacher experiences (Muschkin, Ladd, & Sauval, 2024); and enhanced community-wide stock of high-quality pre-kindergarten experiences – all of which could lead to improved outcomes in the non-funded population. In contrast, in the presence of adverse spillover, funding would lead to worse outcomes for non-funded children. For example, the kindergarten teacher might pay special attention to children with greater incoming skill, leaving less time to attend to a low-performing student who falls further behind. In the current evaluation of pre-kindergarten program effects, we consider the population of students within an elementary school as an inter-related system, whose members can enhance or diminish each other’s outcomes.

The current study leveraged exogenous variation in NC Pre-K funding levels across 100 counties and 18 cohorts, to test the association between population-wide per-child funding level (a continuous variable averaging $1,500 at steady state), and academic outcomes for non-funded children. Specifically, it explored associations with a composite of 5th grade academic achievement for non-funded classroom peers of funded students. The sample included 1,251,295 students (58% Non-Hispanic White, 29% Black, 7% Hispanic, 6% Other; 51% male, 49% female; 76% maternal high school diplomas, 24% no maternal high school diploma). Regression analyses included county, year, and school fixed effects and numerous child, family, and county covariates.

Preliminary analyses indicate that state funding for pre-kindergarten was associated with a significant (p < .01) and positive spillover effect on non-funded peers’ 5th grade academic achievement scores, with an effect size of .039 standard deviation at average funding. This effect size is about one fifth of the previously-reported effect size for funded students. Spillover effects were significant (p < .05) for every demographic group studied except Black students. Analyses are underway to identify mediators of the effect of pre-kindergarten funding on non-funded children, and to reconcile these results with existing research that did not explore potential spillovers. Possible mechanisms include indirect effects through peer influence, teacher instruction, and changes to the local pre-kindergarten market. This augmentation of earlier NC Pre-K findings suggests greater benefits of the program than previously estimated; these may have implications for benefit-cost estimation, policy making, and the design of both education programs and evaluation studies.

Author information

Author	Role
Siobhan O'Muircheartaigh, Duke University	Presenting author
Kenneth A. Dodge, Duke University	Non-presenting author
Yu Bai, Duke University	Non-presenting author
Jade Jenkins, University of California, Irvine	Non-presenting author
Tyler Watts, Teachers College, Columbia University	Non-presenting author
Caroline M. Botvin, Teachers College, Columbia University	Non-presenting author

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