PreK, Full-Day Kindergarten Programs Are Proliferating
Responding to the research, policy and political leaders in more and more states are investing in early childhood education. Public pre-kindergarten programs are proliferating and thousands of children in more than half a dozen states will move from half to full-day kindergarten classes this fall.
Seven state legislatures set aside money for all-day kindergarten, among them Montana, North Dakota and Utah, which don't have state pre-K programs and a record 29 governors sought and received from their legislatures increased funding for their state preK programs.
In a roundup of state legislative action this past spring, Pauline Vu of Stateline.org reported, "Currently, 39 states have a state-funded preschool program, although the majority of them only cover low-income kids. Only three states -- Georgia, Florida and Oklahoma -- offer voluntary preschool to all 4-year-olds. Illinois last year passed a law to create the country's first universal program for 3-year-olds, as well as 4-year-olds, but the program is being phased in."
According to the report, "It's all part of a push to get more kids learning at a young age when, research has shown, their brains still are developing and they're most likely to soak in information. Advocates also say that students who have attended preschool are less likely to commit crimes later and more likely to attend college, get jobs and pay taxes."
Research Supporting PreK, Full-Day Kindergarten Continues to Grow
Moreover, the research-based evidence of all of the social and economic benefits of expanded high quality preK education continues to roll in.
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A longitudinal study of participants in a Chicago public schools program serving preK through third grade students reported in August 2007 that at age 24 program participants had acquired more education and were less likely to commit crimes than those who did not receive the same level of service.
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Findings of the Chicago study on the long-term effects of early childhood education are similar to results consistently reported by other well-known longitudinal study projects including the Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention Project and the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project.
The latest EPI information on states shows that Texas, for example, could save billions of public dollars over the upcoming decades by immediately investing in pre-kindergarten programs, which the research contends would pay begin paying for themselves within eight years.
According to the Texas data, investment in quality universal preK would generate $75.9 billion in total benefits by 2050. A more targeted preK program concentrated on vulnerable populations, could yield $37.8 billion in total benefits.
PreK Helps Produce More Productive Citizens
EPI says the data shows that "children who participate in high-quality pre-K programs perform better in school, earn higher salaries when they enter the workforce, and engage in less criminal activity.
The legislative action recorded so far in 2007 continues the trend reported in "The State of Preschool 2006: State Preschool Yearbook" released by NIEER earlier this year. In releasing the authoritative annual review of state preschool programs, NIEER said state-funded preschool is the "most rapidly expanding segment of the U.S. educational system."
However, the NIEER report called states' commitment to early childhood education "fickle," explaining that "funding is as likely to be cut as it is to be increased."
"Lack of stable funding poses an enormous problem for parents of young children and for society generally," said NIEER Director W. Steven Barnett.
This concern did not disappear in 2007. According to the Stateline.org report, South Dakota is only funding a pilot program in the Sioux Falls School District and North Dakota passed a bill allowing districts to create preschool programs, but the state senate failed by one vote to provide $200,000 to the districts.
Stateline.org reported, "In Mississippi, the only Southern state without a program, a bill that would have provided $10 million for the state to set up a pre-K program got further than it ever had by passing the House, although it failed in the Senate."
The Legislative Budget Board in Texas, which prepares budget proposals that then go to the legislature, initially cut preK funding. Though it was later restored by the lawmakers, the process underscored that funding is tenuous.
The Indiana legislature boosted funding for full-day sessions from $8.5 million to $33.5 million this year and $58.5 million next year, but the added revenue still isn't enough to pay for full-day sessions for all students. Some districts will add money from their general funds, while others will ask parents to pay an annual fee if they want their children to attend all day.
Idaho remains without any preK programs after its legislature declined to pass a bill that merely would have allowed local school districts to establish preK programs.
Related materials:
August 2007
Tags: early childhood education kindergarten programs information advocates kindergarten classes state legislatures |
PDF, 1.66MB, 16 pages) identifies strategies to help improve teaching and learning environments at the PK-3 levels.