Benefits and costs of investments in preschool education: Evidence from the Child–Parent Centers and related programs

We discuss the evidence on the effectiveness of preschool programs using results from three well-known intervention studies: the Chicago Child–Parent Centers, High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, and the Carolina Abecedarian Project. Results from cost–benefit analyses of other programs for younger and older children also are reported. Given that the Child–Parent Center Program is an established, large-scale preschool program for which a cost–benefit analysis has been recently completed, we focus on this program. We examine the longer-term effects in more detail and we investigate the robustness of estimates used in the cost–benefit analysis. Depending on the assumptions made, our results indicate that the benefit–cost ratio for the preschool program offered by the Child–Parent Centers ranges from $5.98–$10.15. We find strong evidence that the consistently positive economic returns of high-quality preschool programs exceed most other educational interventions, especially those that begin during the school-age years such as reduced class sizes in the elementary grades, grade retention, and youth job training.