| Hilary Shager
University of Wisconsin, Madison
The role of peer effects in early education: Evidence from the 2003 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES)
Previous research suggests that the peer composition of a student's class may influence subsequent educational outcomes, yet little attention has been paid to the role peers may play in affecting children's preschool experiences and learning. In this dissertation, I use longitudinal data from the 2003 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), a nationally representative sample of first year Head Start children, to estimate associations between peers' pre-academic and behavior skills and students' pre-academic and behavior outcomes after one year in the program. I use value-added (lagged dependent variable) modeling, a powerful method to reduce omitted variable bias, and multi-level modeling to account for the nested data structure (students nested in classrooms). In addition, I estimate associations between classroom average pre-academic and behavior skills and classroom-level outcomes such as classroom and teaching quality, using OLS regression. Given the scope and scale of public investment in early education, as well as its potential to improve the educational outcomes of vulnerable children, it is important to better understand classroom processes, which in turn can inform intervention strategies. Findings from this dissertation will demonstrate how peers matter in preschool; thus, illuminating ways in which such influence can be leveraged to improve children's educational outcomes.
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