Groundbreaking Study on Tulsa Educare
.webp)
Tulsa Educare provides all-day, year-round, high-quality early learning for children from low-income families. As an evidence-based program, which is continuously evaluated for model implementation, child outcomes and program quality, the staff and board has always had confidence in the program's success. In order to better understand the full impact, Tulsa Educare participated in a multi-year, randomized control trial -- the type of study that is considered best-in-class because it can establish a causal relationship between the intervention and the outcome.
A longitudinal study, the first of its kind in 50 years, conducted by researchers from the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa shows that Tulsa Educare works. The study proves that high-quality, center-based early education, beginning at 18 months of age or younger, materially decreases academic proficiency gaps, thus muting the impact of poverty and enabling children to be ready-for-school and poised to thrive.
The study, which followed children from low-income backgrounds starting at 18 months or younger through grade three, found that those who attended Tulsa Educare had improved academic and social-emotional development than children who were not enrolled in the program.
The children who attended Tulsa Educare demonstrated a statistically significant increase in vocabulary, oral comprehension and math skills compared to children in the control group, from preschool through third grade.
Children from low-income families who benefitted from holistic early childhood education also performed at the national academic average of all children — regardless of their economic background — through third grade.
“Children are born learning. The type, frequency, and quality of their earliest days, weeks, and months are highly predictive of their opportunity to succeed in school and in life."
Ken Levit
Executive Director of GKFF
“We know the unfortunate reality is that language and learning gaps are evident in children as young as nine months of age. These gaps often persist throughout a child’s life and reverberate long-term, across a broad range of societal indicators — education, healthcare and criminal justice, just to name a few. But the research underlying the field of early childhood education has consistently demonstrated that there is an effective antidote to this inequity, and that is to invest in high-quality early learning at birth,” said Ken Levit, Executive Director of GKFF.
GKFF is invested in paving the way for lifelong success through high-quality education, research-based solutions and an unshakable mission of disrupting the cycle of poverty to ensure every child has a fair shot at a brighter future. Our support for Tulsa Educare is one of the many ways we express this commitment to helping every child learn and grow.
{{read-gkffs-statement-on-the-study-and-learn-more-about-the-findings}}
.jpg)