Oklahoma's State Funded Preschool Evaluation
Beginning in 2001 researchers at Georgetown University have evaluated the effectiveness of the Tulsa Public Schools pre-K program, which serves four-year-old children, regardless of income. Oklahoma's pre-K program is of special interest to researchers and public officials because it serves a higher percentage of four year olds than any other pre-K program in the United States.
William T. Gormley and colleagues measured the skills of 3,500 incoming kindergartners in Tulsa, finding that those who had been enrolled in the state's preschool for all program had better reading, math and writing skills than those who spent time in federally funded Head Start programs or attended no public preschool program.
Tulsa's state-funded pre-K program boosted children's pre-reading skills nine months ahead of other kids', pre-writing skills eight months ahead and pre-math skills five months. The study also found that Head Start boosted children's skills but to a lesser extent.
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