An Evaluation of Jumpstart: Effects on Preschool-age Children in California

Jumpstart is a national early education organization that provides kindergarten preparation for preschool children who live in under-resourced neighborhoods across the country. This study of the Jumpstart program focused on assessing the program's impact on young children in California, measuring improvements by Jumpstart participants in language and early literacy skills compared to young children in other similar programs.

The study found that:

• The Jumpstart and comparison groups were similar in terms of gender and language, but had significant differences in terms of ethnicity and age;
• The Jumpstart and comparison group children started at virtually the same ability levels; and
• Language and literacy gains made by the Jumpstart group were statistically significantly greater than the comparison group's.