The Georgia Prekindergarten Program was established in 1993 to provide the state's 4-year-olds with high-quality preschool experiences. A five-year, longitudinal study examined the ways in which differences in prekindergarten services received by 3,639 Pre-K 4-year-olds affected them during their first 3 years of elementary school and assessed the impact of the students' experiences in elementary school on educational outcomes. This report details findings from the fourth year of the study, as the 1996-97 Pre-K students ended Grade 3. Findings are presented in four sections: (1) students' outcomes during their third year in elementary school, including teachers' perceptions of readiness and ratings of students' academic performance, communication skills, and social behavior; (2) impact of prekindergarten and kindergarten characteristics and experiences, including teacher quality, teachers' beliefs and practices, and classroom disruptions on student outcomes through the end of third grade; (3) children's second-grade experiences, including teacher beliefs, practices, and instructional activities; and (4) parents' opinions and involvement in their child's education from prekindergarten through second grade. Among the study's major findings were that 82 percent of 1996-97 prekindergarten students were ready for their third grade, and during their third year of elementary school gained the most in math, science, and language arts. Students assigned to special instructional assistance fell further behind their peers. Older students significantly outperformed students who had turned four just prior to the cutoff for prekindergarten eligibility, with greater differences for those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Students attending prekindergarten classes with greater number of disruptive students fared worse through the second grade, especially in terms of classroom behavior. In the first few years of teaching, certified teachers were not as effective as noncertified degreed teachers or teachers with child development associate (CDA) credentials, but their effectiveness increased or remained constant over time, whereas the effectiveness of noncertified degreed or CDA-credentialed teachers declined. Students of teachers practicing child-centered instructional methods outperformed others during prekindergarten and kindergarten. The report's three appendices describe the sample and efforts to locate children during the study's fourth year, methods used to categorize teachers' instructional beliefs/practices and changes in teacher characteristics across the study period, and statistical methods used. (Contains 17 references.) (KB)