Discussion Paper Series

Preschool Education, Educational Attainment, and Crime Prevention:
Contributions of Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills

Judy A. Temple, University of Minnesota
Arthur J. Reynolds, University of Minnesota
Suh-Ruu Ou, University of Minnesota

Abstract

We investigated the extent to which cognitive and noncognitive skills accounted for the measured links between participation in preschool intervention and high school completion, highest grade completed, and incarceration history in early adulthood. Using data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, an on-going 20-year investigation of the effects of the school-based Child-Parent Center early intervention program for over 1,500 children, we assessed the contribution of a variety of cognitive and noncognitive measures to the estimated effect of preschool. The cognitive measures included school readiness, achievement test scores up to age 14, and remedial education while noncognitive skills were represented by measures of social adjustment, motivation, educational expectations, problem behavior, and juvenile arrest.

Regression analysis indicated that when assessed separately, cognitive factors explained 42% of the effect of preschool on high school completion, 37% on highest grade completed, and 23% on incarceration history by age 24 while the measures of noncognitive factors explained 36%, 45%, and 59% of the effect of preschool in these outcomes, respectively. Together, the large set of cognitive and noncognitive factors explained 46%, 51%, and 59% of the main effect of preschool participation on these outcomes. Cognitive skills were more important for explaining educational attainment while noncognitive skills made greater value-added contributions to incarceration history. As one of very few studies investigating the differential contributions of cognitive and noncognitive skills to preschool effects, our findings support the important role of test scores, school performance, and social and motivational factors in explaining the effect of enriched preschool on economically important indicators of well-being.

The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Early Childhood Research Collaborative.

Paper-PDF