Oakland University selected as new evaluator for Michigan’s Great Start Readiness Program

Michigan’s state funded pre-K program for four-year-old children, the Great Start Readiness Program (or GSRP), has a new evaluator in Oakland University. 

Oakland University’s professor of human development and child studies, Dr. Tomoko Wakabayashi, and assistant professor of human development and child studies, Dr. Noel Kelty, were both recently presented with funding as the result of a competitive grant process. They will be working on supporting an ongoing evaluation project of children taking part in the GSRP. The contract will be renewable for as many as five years, and will allow for the professors to spearhead research efforts into studying the impact and effectiveness of the Great Start Readiness Program.

The GSRP was originally created with the goal of supporting children who might otherwise be at risk of failing in school due to factors like special education needs and household income. Since its inception it has grown in scope due to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s “Pre-K for All” initiative. The initiative’s goal is to provide every four-year-old in the state with high quality pre-K education by 2027. Since the inception of the Pre-K for All initiative, state funding has increased for GSRP, eliminating income-based eligibility requirements, while also setting a priority for families earning below the 400% poverty level, and expanding the program to include all of Michigan’s four-year-olds.

In an article posted on Oakland University’s website, Dr. Wakabayashi was quoted about her goals, saying, “We really want to promote early childhood education as a more universal thing that all children will benefit from. I think this universal pre-K is a great thing, and I hope more and more people will understand the importance of it — despite it being a large investment for Michigan — and the long-term impact for society.”

So far research has found that GSRP has had a high return on investment. Many studies have indicated a long term economic gain up to $16 for every $1 spent on the program. Other studies have suggested links between GSRP and increased readiness for kindergarten, and even high school graduation rates.

Dr. Kelty spoke highly of the program, saying, “It’s the greatest early childhood investment being made in our state.”

Dr. Wakabayashi’s and Dr. Kelty’s plan to use their research to support Michigan’s investment in the Great Start Readiness Program. It will use several different research methods that will use the data analysis techniques that Michigan State University previously used. MSU was the most recent GSRP evaluator. The Oakland team will also use relationship-based fieldwork between children and their GSRP teachers.

Dr. Wakabayashi talked about the approach, saying, “We’re really excited that it’s not just numbers. We actually would have the voices of those who are involved that we could bring to this evaluation, so that there will be continued bipartisan support of the program.”

Dr. Wakabayashi and Dr. Kelty will continue ongoing interviews and focus groups, and have also invited GSRP program directors, work as links between the researchers for Oakland University and the schools participating in the project, to the university’s campus for a luncheon to show them their appreciation for the work they are doing, and to ask for feedback on ways to improve the program moving forward.

Oakland University’s role as the statewide evaluator for the Great State Readiness Program will serve as a beneficial hands-on learning opportunity for its students, especially those who are participating in the school’s new undergraduate program for early childhood education. Dr. Wakabayashi and Dr. Kelty presently have two doctoral students working with them on this project, and are looking for more students to join them to assist with data collection, data entry, and data analysis.

Dr. Wakabayashi spoke to this point, saying, “Just being part of it would give [students] more ideas of what’s going on in the classroom, what the kids are like developmentally, understanding what assessment looks like, understanding what research looks like.”

At present, the research team led by Dr. Wakabayashi and Dr. Kelty is partnering with Oakland Schools, and plans to work with up to two new intermediate school districts (or ISDs) every year as a means to create as diverse a research sample from around Michigan as possible by the end of the university’s five year GSRP contract.

Dr. Kelty pointed out the ultimate goal of the project, saying, “We’re helping to shape, sustain and grow a strong early care and education system in our state.”

More information about Oakland University’s Great Start Readiness Program evaluation research can be found at the school’s early childhood projects and partnerships web page.

More information about everything that Oakland University offers can be found at the school’s website.