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Visible Learning™
Visible Learning MetaX™
Version 1.4 – Updated February 2026

Pre-school with at-risk students

Overview

  • Influence: Pre-school with at-risk students
  • Domain: School
  • Sub-Domain: Pre-school interventions
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Potential to accelerate
  • Influence Definition: Investigates early interventions with preschool-aged children at risk of developmental, learning or behavioral disabilities.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 12
  • Number of studies: 1,330
  • Number of students: 80,697
  • Number of effects: 9,193
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.51
  • Robustness index: 5

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Report Exceptional Child Center Early intervention research institute: Final report, 1982-1983 1983 Handicapped and disadvantaged students 156 NA 1,436 0.43
Journal of Educational Psychology Horn & Packard Early identification of learning problems: A meta-analysis. 1985 Early prediction of learning problems 58 59,998 138 0.90
Journal of Children in Contemporary Society Casto & White The efficacy of early intervention programs with environmentally at-risk infants 1985 At risk children 126 NA 663 0.43
Evaluation and Program Planning Ottenbacher & Petersen The efficacy of early intervention programs for children with organic impairment: A quantitative review 1985 Early intervention for disabled students 38 1,544 118 0.97
Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities White & Casto An integrative review of early intervention efficacy studies with at-risk children: Implications for the handicapped 1985 Handicapped 326 NA 2,266 0.52
Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities White & Casto An integrative review of early intervention efficacy studies with at-risk children: Implications for the handicapped 1985 Handicapped & disadvantaged 162 NA 1,665 0.44
Exceptional Children Casto & Mastropieri The Efficacy of Early Intervention Programs: A Meta-Analysis 1986 Handicapped 74 NA 215 0.68
Prevention and Treatment Nelson, Westhues, & Macleod A Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Research on Preschool Prevention Programs for Children 2003 Pre school prevention programs 34 NA 721 0.53
Dissertation Crosby Meta-analysis of second generation early intervention efficacy research involving children with disabilities or delays 2004 Early intervention with disabled or delayed children 44 2,267 196 0.14
Exceptionality Innocenti & White Are More Intensive Early Intervention Programs More Effective? A Review of the Literature 1993 Early intervention 155 NA 797 0.60
Conference paper Kim, Innocenti, & Kim When should we begin? A comprehensive review of age at start in early intervention 1996 Early intervention 80 NA 659 0.25
Dissertation Mentore The effectiveness of earl intervention with young children "at risk": a decade in review 1999 Early interventions 77 16,888 319 0.48
TOTAL/AVERAGE 1,330 80,697 9,193 0.53
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