Striving for long-term impacts
Research backs the idea that investing in high-quality pre-K programs provides many benefits to children — especially those in underserved communities. Such programs set children up for future academic success and improve their social skills and emotional development. On the other hand, too-rapid expansion can lead to a proliferation of lower-quality, underfunded programs and overcrowded classrooms.
According to The State of Preschool Yearbook published by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) in the 2022-2023 school year, 1,631,968 children attended state-funded preschool, an increase of 7 percent (110,209 children), from the prior year.
Most programs, however, fail to meet at least one quality benchmark, in part due to inadequate funding. Spending per child averaged $8,294, including federal and reported local sources — a figure that falls far short of the cost of a high-quality, full school-day program, according to W. Steven Barnett, NIEER senior co-director and founder.
“The biggest challenge facing districts is designing and implementing programs that will produce long-term impacts on students, support teachers and integrate early childhood special education so students are getting the services they need,” Barnett says.
Alabama is expanding slowly
The most successful districts — like those growing under Alabama First Class Pre-K — expand pre-K programs slowly, as funding allows. The goal of these districts is to build the workforce and to monitor for continuous improvement rather than to implement programs fast and on a large scale. Quick-fix methods tend to stretch state resources thin.
“Alabama is one of the poorest states in the country, but it has one of the higher rates of spending per child to focus on quality,” Barnett says. “The state divides the money in the budget by what it takes to provide a quality program to determine the number of spots. Over the decades, it’s grown slowly and steadily, with administrators systematically collecting data so they know they’re getting positive long-term outcomes.”
Barnett says districts launching new pre-K programs should set high expectations. “Although most states have good early learning standards, they do not fund programs near that level. Districts should look for additional funding, from Title 1 or from local sources,” he says. “The curriculum should include math, science, language and literacy, and it should also include a benchmark for emotional development.”
Union City sets high expectations
The Union City School District, a 12,000-student school system in New Jersey, launched its pre-K program almost two decades ago. Even as an urban district with a high poverty rate, students in the fourth through eighth grades in Union City have exceeded the growth standard in English/Language Arts according to the NJ School Performance Report.
“Union City does everything right: District leaders set high expectations, regardless of the fact that their students are low-income and nonnative English speakers. They have well-trained teachers. They enroll students at age 3. They think ahead and constantly look at data and adjust accordingly. They embrace the fact that 81 percent of residents in Union City are Hispanic, with many students from Spanish-speaking households, so they also place a strong emphasis on bilingual education by ensuring teachers are strong academic — not just colloquial — Spanish speakers,” Barnett says.
To produce lasting gains, Barrett recommends that pre-K teachers have the same qualifications and pay as elementary school teachers and receive continued professional development. In Union City, educators are trained on how young children learn and develop in order to effectively help them learn, make friends and control emotions.
“Pre-K teachers need a good general education and strong language skills,” Barrett says. “Language is a child’s toolkit for understanding the world. They replicate language patterns from home, and if parents have weak language skills, so will children.”
Assistant pre-K teachers should hold a Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential or equivalent — a benchmark most states do not meet. Recently, New Jersey instituted a policy requiring most assistant teachers to have annual professional development plans.
Oregon and Alabama regularly measure success
“The only way a district can ensure it is producing the desired impacts is to implement a continuous improvement system that constantly looks at what is happening in the classroom, assesses students and gives feedback to teachers,” Barnett says. “District administrators should be constantly identifying weak areas at a district level.”
Measures of student success include general cognitive abilities, educational achievement, reading and math proficiency by third grade, maintaining grade level skills, reduced need for special education, timely high school graduation and advancement to postsecondary education. A study of Alabama’s First Class Pre-K (FCPK) program found students in third to seventh grades were significantly more likely to be proficient in both math and reading than those who did not attend pre-K. Similar findings were reported in New Mexico and Indiana.
To further promote successful district-level programs, the Oregon Department of Education published a Guide for Grantees: Preschool Promise Quality Requirements Playbook, which gives administrators information ranging from curriculum, program environment and developmental screening and assessment to family engagement. In addition, Oregon’s Preschool Promise program launched a system for structured classroom observation.
A quality program, however, does not guarantee enrollment or attendance. Barnett points this out, “Some districts with free pre-K programs have only 40 percent of eligible children attend; in Union City, it’s 100 percent. The district works with community organizations to educate parents not just on the importance of pre-K but also on why students should attend every day.”
