Perry Preschool Project

This is a preschool program for children 3 and 4 years of age aimed at developing cognitive skills and attitudes to facilitate the transition into the school system, increasing opportunities for active learning.
Most children attend the program for 2 years, for 7 months of the year, 5 days a week and 2.5 hours a day, including weekly home visits by preschool teachers. In addition, the program team facilitates monthly meetings in small groups of parents. The methodology was first applied in an experiment in the 1970s, and its results continue to be measured to this day.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies show that children who participated in the program performed significantly better on cognitive and language tests at preschool and elementary school age [1], increased high school completion [2] [3], and had no episodes of school suspension [3]. As adults, participants had fewer misdemeanor or violent felony convictions [2] and lower overall incarceration rates [1].
The intervention had a positive effect on participants’ employment rates and earnings in adulthood [1], and their children were more likely to be in full-time or self-employment, demonstrating the intergenerational effects of the intervention [3].
As adults, participants had better general health, significantly lower rates of smoking, heavy alcohol abuse, and illicit drug abuse, and lower rates of depression [4]. No statistically significant effects on participation in drug or alcohol rehabilitation programs were observed [2].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Schweinhart, L. J. (2005). Lifetime effects: the High/Scope Perry Preschool study through age 40 (No. 14). High/Scope Foundation.

[2] Heckman, J. J., & Karapakula, G. (2019). The Perry Preschoolers at late midlife: A study in design-specific inference (No. w25888). National Bureau of Economic Research. DOI 10.3386/w25888

[3] Heckman, J. J., & Karapakula, G. (2019). Intergenerational and intragenerational externalities of the Perry Preschool Project (No. w25889). National Bureau of Economic Research.DOI 10.3386/w25889

[4] Muennig, P., Schweinhart, L., Montie, J., & Neidell, M. (2009). Effects of a prekindergarten educational intervention on adult health: 37-year follow-up results of a randomized controlled trial. American journal of public health, 99(8), 1431-1437.

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