Much Hypothesized, Rarely Tested: Public Preschool Attendance Predicts Executive Functioning Skills in 3^rd Grade

Public preschool enhances consequential long-term education, economic, and health outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. One much-hypothesized - but rarely tested - explanation is that preschool predicts improved executive functioning (EF) in middle childhood. Our study provides empirical support linking preschool to middle childhood EF. We draw on a large, racially-diverse sample of children from low-income families in Tulsa, OK (N=685, M_{age at 3rd}= 8.5 years), home to a nationally-recognized universal public preschool program administered in school-based pre-k and Head Start classrooms. Using propensity score weighting, we compare the 3^rd grade EF skills of children who attended school-based pre-k or Head Start to those who did not. School-based pre-k attendance predicts better impulse control and working memory skills in 3^rd grade (d=.35-.37); Head Start attendance predicts better working memory (d=.47). This evidence highlights public preschool's potential to promote the EF skills of diverse children from low-income families into middle childhood.