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High/Scope is an educational approach which originated in
the US. It follows the principle that children are active
learners who learn best from activities which they plan and
carry out themselves and then reflect upon.
In the 1960s there was concern that children from low income
families were not succeeding as well as they might. A pioneering,
longitudinal study, the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project,
was set up under the direction of David Weikart to find out
if pre-school education could make a long-term difference
to children's wellbeing. This research examined the lives
of 123 African Americans from low income families, who were
at high risk of failing school; from 1962 to 1967, 58 received
the High/Scope pre-school programme and 65 similar children
were assigned to a control group. The project has monitored
their achievement, motivation and social behaviour from the
ages of three to 41, with very little attrition of the study
sample. The research shows that a programme such as High/Scope's
can produce lasting benefits for children, families and society.
Main Findings
Since 1970 there have been five major reports on the High/Scope
Perry Preschool Project: one on the effects of the programme
at the end of pre-school, and others at ages 10, 15, 19 and
27.
In the last case the research considered the incidence of
crime among participants, their educational attainment, level
of earnings, rate of home ownership, level of welfare assistance,
and incidence of single parenthood. Comparing the pre-school
group with the control group, significant differences were
discovered:
- 7% of adults who had participated in the pre-school programme
had been arrested five or more times, compared with 35%
of those who had not
- The programme group had significantly higher average achievement
scores at age 14 and literacy scores at age 19
- Adults in the programme group were four times more likely
(29%) to earn $2,000 or more per month than were adults
in the no-programme group (7%).
- 57% of women in the programme group were single parents,
compared with 83% of those in the no-programme group
- The age-27 analysis also found that every public dollar
spent on the programme saved $7.16 in tax dollars.
Data on the participants at age 39-41, pertaining to health,
imprisonment and their children's performance, are now being
analysed. Other High/Scope research projects are on-going,
such as a large-scale project to coordinate a study of pre-school
care and education around the world.
Links:
Reference:
Schweinhart, L.J. (2003) Benefits, Costs, and Explanation
of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program (Paper presented
at the Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development,
Tampa, Florida): High/Scope Educational Research Foundation
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