Publicly Funded Preschool: Fulfilling the Promise through Quality and Community Partnerships

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Publicly Funded Preschool Fulfilling the Promise
through Quality and Community Partnerships

• Mary Donegan-Ritter, Ph.D., UNI
• Regents Center for Early Education
• Joe Kramer, Superintendent, Pocahantas Community
  School District
• Ray Seehusen, School Board, Pocahantas Community
  School District

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Nationwide State Spending on Preschool

• National spending on pre-k will increase by 528
  million in FY08, providing at least 88,000 more
  children access to pre-k
• 82 of voters want their presidential candidate
  to support pre-k

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Why should preschool be publicly funded?

• Short term benefits
• More likely to score higher on math and reading
  state tests in elementary school
• Less likely to be retained in grade
• Less likely to require special education services

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Why should preschool be publicly funded?

• Long term benefits
• More likely to earn high school diploma
• More likely to be employed
• More likely to earn high wages
• More likely to be home owners
• Less likely to be a teen parent
• Less likely to be involved in criminal justice
  system

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Gains per 1 Invested
Center for Public Education, 2006
SOURCE CED, 2006
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Poor children start school behind their more
affluent peers academically
Percent of students scoring in top quartile
Source NCES, Americas Kindergartners, Class of
1998-99, February 2000
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and socially
Percent of students who engage in pro-social
behavior often or very often
Source NCES, Americas Kindergartners, Class of
1998-99, February 2000
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Benefits of PreK for All
Effects of Tulsa Pre-k Program by Race/Ethnicity
of Student
Source The Effects of Oklahomas Universal
Pre-Kindergarten Program on School Readiness.
Gormley, W. (2004). Georgetown University Center
for Research on Children in the U.S.
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Need does not stop at the poverty line

• While gains for children in poverty are more
  dramatic, children from working class and middle
  income families benefit from lower rates of grade
  retention and special education referral.
• Underdeveloped potential at school entry
• Middle income children lack access

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School Failure and the Middle Class

• Middle class children have fairly high rates of
  school failure. Reducing these could generate
  large benefits
• Income Retention Dropout
• Lowest 20 17 23
• 20-80 12 11
• Highest 20 8 3
• Source US Dept of Ed, NCES (1997). Figures are
  multi-year averages

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Iowas Investment in PreK

• In May 2007 Governor Chet Culver created the
  Statewide Voluntary Four Year Old Preschool
  Program and provided inaugural funding of 15
  million to expand pre-k access.
• Additionally, the Shared Visions pre-k program
  received an increase of 1.6 million.
• 182 districts applied, 64 districts were funded
  for year 1
• Starting in the 2008-2009 school year, programs
  funded through the 15 million grant will be
  included in the school funding formula.

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Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program

• Teachers with college degrees and Prek or Kg
  certification
• Research based curriculum
• Class size max 20, ratio max 110
• Professional development
• Child assessment
• Iowa Quality Preschool Program Standards or Head
  Start Program Standards or NAEYC accreditation
  and Iowa Early Learning Standards

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Indicators of High Quality Preschool

• Small class size (not more than 20)
• Low child/staff ratios (101)
• Well trained teachersongoing professional
  development
• Follows guidelines for Developmentally
  Appropriate Practice (NAEYC)
• Age appropriate
• Individually appropriate
• Culturally appropriate

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Challenges for Iowas PreK Programs

• Keep the funding for this new legislative
  initiative on track
• Assure programs are well implemented
• Recruit well-trained early educators
• Ensure diverse delivery of pre-k programs
• Provide more than the minimum 10 hours per week
  of classroom time

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If school districts provide the minimum 10
hours

• Will the programs have an impact on childrens
  school readiness?
• Will working families enroll their children?
• Child care (gt70 of Iowas parents of young
  children are employed)
• Transportation costs and logistics

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Diverse service delivery system

• Involves collaboration between school districts
  and community providers
• Meets needs of Iowas families
• Improves quality of existing early childhood
  programs
• Reduces transitions and creates a seamless
  prekindergarten through 12th grade system
• Helps school systems increase and improve
  inclusion efforts
• Raises the professionalism and compensation of
  the early education field