[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-602502-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":80,"doc-detail-602502-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":73,"head_meta":75,"extra_data":77,"updated_unix":79},105,"en","the-prekindergarten-age-cutoff-regression-discontinuity-design-methodological-issues-and-implications-for-application","The Prekindergarten Age-Cutoff Regression-Discontinuity Design: Methodological Issues and Implications for Application","","Evidence on the causal effects of public prekindergarten programs for school readiness outcomes often relies on regression-discontinuity designs using an age cutoff for program entry. Despite the design’s high internal validity when assumptions hold, common applications can overlook methodological problems that bias effect estimates. The paper details these issues, calls for greater attention from researchers, and provides recommendations for improving future prekindergarten age-cutoff studies and their policy implications.",{"@graph":14,"@context":72},[15,34,55],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-prekindergarten-age-cutoff-regression-discontinuity-design-methodological-issues-and-implications-for-application/602502/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-prekindergarten-age-cutoff-regression-discontinuity-design-methodological-issues-and-implications-for-application/602502.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"pixelkiddo","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-28","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":33},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",{"@type":56,"mainEntity":57},"FAQPage",[58,64,68],{"name":59,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":61},"Why do many prekindergarten studies use regression-discontinuity designs with an age cutoff?","Question",{"text":62,"@type":63},"They use the age cutoff that determines program eligibility as the basis for assignment to treatment and control conditions, which can yield strong internal validity when assumptions are met.","Answer",{"name":65,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":66},"What concern does the paper raise about typical RDD applications?",{"text":67,"@type":63},"It argues that overlooked methodological problems in how the design is applied can produce biased effect estimates, despite the approach’s apparent credibility.",{"name":69,"@type":60,"acceptedAnswer":70},"Beyond school readiness, what other outcomes have age-cutoff RDD studies examined?",{"text":71,"@type":63},"The paper notes applications projecting adult earning benefits and estimating effects on mothers’ participation in the labor market.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":74,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":76,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":78,"site_id":7},602502,1792208875,{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":82},"success",[83,87,91,95,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":84,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":81,"data":131},{"doc_id":78,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":33,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962090883892,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e00115db34f3e0f11b?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1790152879550218658","Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis September 2015, Vol. 37, No. 3, pp. 296–313 DOI: 10.3102/0162373714547266  \n© 2014 AERA. [http://eepa.aera.net](http://eepa.aera.net)  \nThe Prekindergarten Age-Cutoff Regression-Discontinuity Design: Methodological Issues and Implications for  \nApplication  \nMark W. Lipsey  \nVanderbilt University  \nChristina Weiland  \nUniversity of Michigan  \nHirokazu Yoshikawa  \nNew York University  \nSandra Jo Wilson  \nKerry G. Hofer  \nVanderbilt University  \nMuch of the currently available evidence on the causal effects of public prekindergarten programson school readiness outcomes comes from studies that use a regression-discontinuity design (RDD) with the age cutoff to enter a program in a given year as the basis for assignment to treatment and control conditions. Because the RDD has high internal validity when its key assumptions are met, these studies appear to provide strong evidence for the effectiveness of these programs. However, there are overlooked methodological problems in the way this design has typically been applied that have the potential to produce biased effect estimates. We describe these problems, argue that they deserve more attention from researchers using this design than they have received, and offer suggestions for improving future studies.  \nKeywords: regression discontinuity, prekindergarten, school readiness, early childhood  \nBetween 1980 and 2012, the number of states with publicly funded prekindergarten programs in the United States increased fourfold from 10 to 40 (Barnett, Carolan, Fitzgerald, & Squires, 2012). Moreover, further expansion of prekindergarten opportunities is currently underway or under active discussion in many states and school districts across the United States (Pérez-Peña & Rich, 2014; Samuels, 2014; Workman, Griffith,& Atchison, 2014) . Particular momentum was given to discussions of early childhood education policy by President Obama’s call for federal support to expand access to high-quality preschool to every child in America in his State of the Union address and the associated preschool-forall initiative (White House, 2013) .  \nA primary rationale for prekindergarten programs is their ability to increase school readiness, that is, to prepare children, especially disadvantaged children, for constructive participation in the learning opportunities provided in kindergarten and beyond (Pianta, Cox, & Snow, 2007) . The generally recognized domains of school readiness include language and literacy skills, mathematics, cognition and general knowledge, approaches to learning, physical well-being and motor development, and social and emotional development (Britto, 2012) . Evidence about the effects of prekindergarten on these school readiness constructs is therefore central to the justification of policies that support public funding for prekindergarten.  \nPre-K Age-Cutoff RDD Methodological Issues  \nA number of non-experimental studies conducted prior to 2005 investigated the effects of enrollment in public prekindergarten programson some of these school readiness outcomes (Henry, Gordon, Mashburn, & Ponder, 2001; Magnuson, Meyers, Ruhm, & Waldfogel, 2003; Xiang & Schweinhart, 2002) . However, in 2005, the first such study to use a design with strong internal validity was reported by Gormley, Gayer, Phillips, and Dawson (2005). The Gormley et al. study used a regression-discontinuity design (RDD) that took advantage of the strict age cutoff for prekindergarten eligibility in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that naturally divided children into a treatment group (age 4 by the cutoff date and enrolled in prekindergarten) and a control group (age 4 after the cutoff and not enrolled until the next school year) .  \nFollowing the Tulsa study, and no doubt largely inspired by it, the age-cutoff RDD has been widely adopted for studying the effects of publicly funded prekindergarten programs on school readiness outcomes and, indeed, has virtually become the standard for that ","cbCaio8BymPI0eJo","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaio8BymPI0eJo","pdf",516687,18,"English","# The Prekindergarten Age-Cutoff Regression-Discontinuity Design\n## Why RDD Studies Are Used in Prekindergarten Policy\n## Key Rationale: School Readiness Outcomes\n## Pre-K Age-Cutoff RDD Methodological Issues\n## Adoption and Applications Across States\n## Extensions to Subgroups and Broader Outcomes","[{\"question\":\"Why do many prekindergarten studies use regression-discontinuity designs with an age cutoff?\",\"answer\":\"They use the age cutoff that determines program eligibility as the basis for assignment to treatment and control conditions, which can yield strong internal validity when assumptions are met.\"},{\"question\":\"What concern does the paper raise about typical RDD applications?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that overlooked methodological problems in how the design is applied can produce biased effect estimates, despite the approach’s apparent credibility.\"},{\"question\":\"Beyond school readiness, what other outcomes have age-cutoff RDD studies examined?\",\"answer\":\"The paper notes applications projecting adult earning benefits and estimating effects on mothers’ participation in the labor market.\"}]","The Prekindergarten Age-Cutoff Regression-Discontinuity Design: Methodological Issues and Implications for Application | PDF",1792094780,45]