Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence and CK-PAT:

This Holiday Season, the Proof is in the Pudding

by Mike Ford

Simply put, the Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence delivers, and the Core Knowledge Preschool Assessment Tool (CK-PAT) can help prove it, according to two recent studies:

An Analysis of Academic Progress of Children Participating in the Core Knowledge Preschool Program in Baltimore County Head Start Centers, by Susan Sonnenschein, Linda Baker, and Adia Garrett; released August, 2005, University of Maryland.
Evaluation of the Core Knowledge Program in Arkansas, by Robert H. Bradley, Ph.D.; November, 2005.

Both the CK-PAT and the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ-III, a nationally normed test) were administered in Baltimore to assess the achievement levels and the improvement rates of 110 four-year-old boys and girls in the Baltimore County Head Start program. Seventeen tasks from the CK-PAT and nine subtests of WJ-III were used in this evaluation. The results of the Baltimore study confirm what we at the Foundation already know regarding (a) the merit of the Preschool Sequence and (b) the validity of the CK-PAT. Researchers from the University of Maryland concluded that the Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence “as implemented in Baltimore County Head Start centers is successful in providing low-income children with the skills and knowledge that children across the country are expected to master.” In fact, youngsters in the ten participating preschools actually showed results in the “above-average” or “high above average” range in most of the tested areas.

The implementation of the Preschool Sequence also had a “significant impact on student achievement” in Arkansas. Evaluator Dr. Robert Bradley extended his research further by asking four critical questions:

Do children who participated in CK show significant academic gains during the year?
Do children who participated in CK show significant gains in social competence during the year?
Do children with prior experience in CK continue to show significant academic progress during kindergarten and first grade?
Is the quality of teaching related to student academic gains during preschool?

The same nine tests from the WJ-III battery were administered in Arkansas using a larger and more diverse population of students. The CK-PAT test results were not analyzed in AR, but several other tools, the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening for Preschool (PALS-PreK) and the Social Skills Rating System (SSRS), were also administered. Dr. Bradley writes, “There were significant improvements recorded on PALS-PreK scores in all areas of academic functioning and on all the WJ-III achievement tests.”

Both studies conclude that preschool children in Baltimore and Arkansas are en route to receiving the “fairness and excellence in education” that is the promise of the Core Knowledge Foundation; this is the perhaps most encouraging and substantial lesson to be drawn from this research.

As for the other issues addressed by these studies, researchers in Baltimore found that there was strong “evidence of validity” regarding the value of the CK-PAT Assessment Tool. While the CK-PAT was designed specifically to test the skills and knowledge emphasized in the Preschool Sequence, researchers determined that it also “provides valid information about children’s early achievement,” which is the basic purpose of Woodcock Johnson tests.

Results in Arkansas were “particularly revealing” regarding the long-term advantages of the Preschool Sequence. According to Dr. Bradley, kindergartners and first graders made gains that were “particularly impressive in view of the declines typically observed in students who come from low-income rural backgrounds. Moreover, CK attendees in kindergarten and first grade also continued to show progress in social skills.”

Dr. Bradley’s research into fourth question showed that “quality of teaching” — specifically, the degree to which teachers were faithful to the Sequence — did have a predictable impact on student achievement. Those results will be left to teachers, administrators, parents, and trainers to ponder. Please contact the Foundation for more information regarding either study, or to learn more about the Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence and CK-PAT.