Evaluating Universal Preschool Outcomes: First 5 LA

Many children, especially those from linguistically and culturally diverse families, enter kindergarten lagging behind their peers in the skills necessary to succeed in school. Universal preschool has been viewed as one way to enhance learning opportunities for these children.

Mathematica has been awarded a $4.3 million, two-year contract from First 5 LA to study child outcomes and program processes in the Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP) program. The study will inform national policymaking on preschool education for diverse children, with a particular focus on English language learners.

Based on psychometric analyses of child development measures in the spring 2007 pilot phase of the study, the study team identified measures that are most appropriate for the culturally and linguistically diverse children and families LAUP serves. The second phase, in fall 2007 and spring 2008, involves approximately 2,000 4-year-olds, their teachers, and parents and is designed to answer questions about quality, intensity, and overall program implementation, as well as how these factors relate to developmental outcomes by the end of preschool. Mathematica will analyze changes in child development between fall and spring and investigate how program, teacher, and classroom characteristics are related to child outcomes. Project reports will document the rationale for the choice of measures and findings on the relationships between children's development and child, family, and program characteristics at the conclusion of the 2007-2008 program year.

Study partners include Juarez & Associates of Los Angeles; American Institutes for Research, Palo Alto; Deanna Gomby Consulting, Sunnyvale; and the Berkeley Evaluation and Assessment Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

Back to Top