PSYCHOLOGISTS used to think that the educational boost nursery schooling can give poor children wore off within five years. But the latest results of a 15-year study in a small town in North Carolina show that disadvantaged children do better in school for at least 10 years after one-to-one training from infancy, the AAAS heard last week.
Children given individual tuition as toddlers scored significantly higher in maths and reading at age 15 than others who were not given such early schooling, said Craig Ramey, a psychologist from the University of Alabama. The children who attended pre-school classes were also less likely to be held back a year or put into remedial classes.
The study, called the Carolina Abecedarian Project, is 鈥渦nusually comprehensive, convincing and detailed鈥�, said Christine Hohmann, a researcher at Morgan State University in Maryland. And the results confirm what teachers, psychologists and many parents have long suspected: a stimulating environment makes children smarter. 鈥淭he early years appear to be particularly important,鈥� said Ramey.
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In fact, preschool education seems to give children more of an advantage than extra after-school classes in the first few years of school. Children who took part in the preschool programme consistently performed better in maths and reading tests at the ages of 8, 12 and 15.
The study, which began in 1972, gave disadvantaged children one of the most intensive academic programmes ever offered. From 6 months to 5 years, half the children attended an all-day, year-round nursery school which emphasised language and reading skills. 鈥淚t was a learning banquet,鈥� said Frances Campbell, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina who works with the project. The other half had no special treatment, but some were given extra after-school classes when they started compulsory education at the age of five.
The 111 children in the study were healthy infants of parents with low incomes, little education or unskilled jobs. 鈥淭he expectation was that these children would not be prepared to perform well in school,鈥� said Ramey. 鈥淲e have substantial numbers of children who are being reared in circumstances that almost guarantee that they will be dismal failures.鈥�
But intensive preschool education for all would be expensive. The existing government-funded childcare programme, Head Start, typically provides five half-days a week for four-year-olds and in 1994 cost about $4300 per child. The cost of the Abecedarian Project was about $6000 per child each year. 鈥淵ou have to ask where the money鈥檚 going to come from,鈥� says Ron Haskins, a former director of the project who now works for the Ways and Means Committee of the US House of Representatives. 鈥淔urthermore, there鈥檚 no evidence that they can replicate these results on a national basis,鈥� he says.
Nevertheless, the results do confirm the importance of nursery training, says Campbell. 鈥淲hat we need now is for law-makers and policy-makers to commit the money.鈥�