Effects of Early Intervention on Intellectual and Academic Achievement: A Follow-up Study of Children from Low-Income Families

TLDR

Follow‑up data 4–7 years after the Carolina Abecedarian Project intervention are presented for children from low‑income families. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: continuous educational treatment from infancy through age 8, preschool‑only treatment, primary‑school‑only treatment, or an untreated control. Preschool treatment produced sustained gains in intellectual development and academic achievement through age 12, while school‑age treatment alone was less effective, and overall scores increased with longer treatment duration, supporting an intensity hypothesis.

Abstract

Follow-up data, obtained 4-7 years after intervention ended, are presented for the Carolina Abecedarian Project, an experimental study of early childhood educational intervention for children from poverty families. Subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 intervention conditions: educational treatment from infancy through 3 years in public school (up to age 8); preschool treatment only (infancy to age 5); primary school treatment only (age 5-8 years), or an untreated control group. Positive effects of preschool treatment on intellectual development and academic achievement were maintained through age 12. School-age treatment alone was less effective. Results generally supported an intensity hypothesis in that scores on cognitive and academic achievement measures increased as duration of treatment increased.