Getting Ready for Kindergarten: The Early Learning Initiative Evaluation

Publications

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has launched an ambitious Early Learning Initiative (ELI) to increase the school readiness of children in the state of Washington. As part of this strategy, the foundation is funding the development of in-depth, community-wide early childhood initiative in two demonstration communities—White Center (just outside of Seattle) and East Yakima, a community in central Washington. 

Mathematica is conducting a 10-year evaluation of the demonstration to (1) provide information for continuous improvement, (2) inform state policy and development of best practices, and (3) assess the effects of long-term investment in early learning systems.

Mathematica's evaluation includes the following components:

• An in-depth implementation study to examine the characteristics of the ELI communities at baseline and after 1, 3, and 7 years of implementation. The analyses are drawing on multiple data sources—site visit interviews and focus groups, assessments of child care quality, network surveys, and service use data collected by service providers as available.
  
  
• A kindergarten readiness study to track communities' progress in preparing children for kindergarten. The study is assessing the readiness of a representative sample of entering kindergartners in each ELI community at baseline and after 1, 3, and 7 years of implementation. Data sources include direct child assessments, teacher and assessor ratings, and parent interviews.
  
  
• Short-term impact studies to measure rigorously the impact of the most intensive, core ELI components—such as home visiting and child care quality improvement—on children's developmental outcomes. Specific ELI components will be selected for these studies as implementation proceeds.
  
  
• A long-term impact study to measure rigorously the impact of ELI on children's school readiness and their progress in elementary school. We will compare the outcomes—at ages 2 and 5, as well as into early elementary school—of children born in the ELI communities and a matched sample of children born elsewhere in Washington state.

To conduct these analyses, the evaluation team is collecting a rich set of data on ELI implementation and child, family, and community outcomes. Data for the implementation study comes from in-depth interviews and focus groups with service providers, parents, and other community members; network surveys of community service providers; and observations of child care quality. Data on child and family outcomes is derived from in-home child assessments, parent interviews, school-based kindergarten readiness assessments, teacher and parent ratings, and school records. Baseline data collection began in summer 2007.

Publications

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