Publication date: January–February 2020
Source: Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, Volume 66
Author(s): Karin E. Kitchens, William Gormley, Sara Anderson
Abstract
As scholars investigate factors to prolong early childhood education (ECE) effects on student achievement, a neglected hypothesis is that subsequent school quality promotes this goal. We test this, using data from 1844 students who attended kindergarten in the Tulsa Public Schools (TPS) in 2006 and who were identifiable in the school district a decade later. Approximately half of those students attended an ECE program. We establish a close link between school quality and magnet schools which we use as a proxy for higher quality schools. Using propensity score weighting with multiple imputation, we find that ECE alumni are more likely to attend a magnet middle school and a magnet high school. We find that magnet middle school attendance yields higher test scores, after controlling for multiple variables. We conclude that higher quality middle schools could help school districts to sustain short-term gains from ECE for a diverse cross-section of students.