First, the pre-school programs are based within the primary school the children will eventually attend, making the transition to school easier. Second, the program continues up to third grade, providing resources and support even during routine education. Finally, the program demands a fair amount of parental involvement – 2.5 hours per week, in fact. Which I will guiltily admit is way more time than I spend in my kids’ school.

The study suggests that kids who went to these CPCs did better much later in life, but there are major issues with studies like this. CPC attendance wasn’t randomized. Are we seeing the beneficial effect of the intervention itself, or are parents who seek out these interventions more invested in their children and so their kids do better.

You have to find a good control group. To do this, the authors built a model predicting CPC attendance using a variety of demographic and socioeconomic variables. They then matched CPC kids with similar kids who did not attend a CPC.

Matching worked pretty well.