SEO Ed Digest
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Vol. 3, Issue 8
August 2006
Bringing urban P-16 education resources to policymakers, parents, advocates, and district and school staff in the District of Columbia
Research on DC Schools
National Lessons Learned
New Ideas
The State Education Office does not endorse the views expressed in the resources and reports contained in the SEO Ed Digest.
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This issue of the SEO Ed Digest covers recent and background research on the topic of early childhood education and preschool. Research has taught us that physiologically, a child’s brain develops 75-90% its capacity by the age of five. Since this discovery, researchers, policymakers, and the general public have been exploring the idea of universal preschool. States such as Oklahoma and Florida have strong universal preschool programs with 92.4% and 67.4% of four-year olds enrolled in a preschool program. Other states, such as California and Virginia, are following in the same footsteps and working towards universal preschool. This topic is relevant to the District of Columbia as we consider implementation of universal preschool.
Many children from middle-income families enter kindergarten behind their peers, often because the supply of early care and education programs in middle-income neighborhoods is no greater than in low-income neighborhoods. Yet research shows that high-quality preschool programs provide gains for middle-income children, particularly in letter-word identification and spelling scores. This policy report analyzes what the research says about access to and gains made in high-quality preschool programs by children from middle-income families. Recommendations include expanding publicly funded preschool programs to include middle-income children and strengthening standards for child care and early education programs.
This report addresses the question: how can the city of Los Angeles leverage its existing resources to support a universal preschool initiative? To answer this question, the authors analyze the current preschool environment in Los Angeles, identify obstacles to universal access, and consider the role and resources of the city in service provisions. Finally, the report provides recommendations for potential strategies that Los Angeles can employ to leverage its resources in partnership with other public or private organizations. The recommendations include: 1) increase Los Angeles’ preschool capacity by creating municipal bonds, density bonuses and long-term loans for providers; 2) improve the quality and affordability of preschool programs by creating enrichment centers, expanding early care and education curriculum at local colleges and universities, and providing college scholarships for students to work in early care and education; and 3) improve the coordination of service delivery within the City of Los Angeles by increasing the Mayor and city council’s role, holding regular discussions with all stakeholders, creating an interagency preschool committee, and using neighborhood councils for outreach and funding efforts.
This report analyzes the preschool initiative on California’s statewide ballot in June 2006 and existing universal preschool programs across the country. The authors find that in California, there are only 22,000 four-year-olds not enrolled in preschool. Because the ballot initiative would allocate $2.4 billion a year on a new universal preschool plan, this plan would cost taxpayers $109,000 per new preschooler, an incredibly expensive investment. Therefore, the authors argue against a universal preschool initiative in California. Further, the study finds a troubling lack of results and unfulfilled promises in the two states that implemented universal preschool in the 1990s: Georgia and Oklahoma. Despite the government-run preschool programs, both states scored below the national average in fourth-grade reading on National Assessment of Education Progress tests in 2005. In fact, Georgia and Oklahoma ranked in the nation's bottom 10 when it came to improving fourth-grade reading scores from 1992 to 2005. By contrast, none of the ten best performing states had implemented universal preschool programs.
On December 9 and 10, 2004, Legal Momentum and the MIT Workplace Center at the Sloan School of Management sponsored a conference, “The Economic Impacts of Child Care and Early Education: Financing Solutions for the Future,” that led to this report. It brought together roughly 80 scholars, experts and activists from around the country to examine the economics of early childhood education and to determine how to effectively present this new investment understanding to policy makers and voters. In this report, the authors discuss the following: how early childhood education programs have short-term economic benefits that fuel the economy and the positive long-term impact on tomorrow’s citizens and tomorrow’s economy; how to finance for a public investment that yields high public returns; and case studies and lessons learned across the country. The final chapter of this report provides next steps and recommendations, which include the following: an additional cost-benefit analysis of early childhood education should be undertaken; additional policy analysis and options for new financing mechanisms is needed to provide alternative sources of private and public investment; broad public education is needed for policymakers and citizens to frame the issue of early childhood education as important to the development of children and to the economy; high quality and effective delivery of services requires improving existing early childhood education while expanding the reach to more children; and regular national and regional conferences are needed to share information, strategies, and lessons learned.
This report builds on the Committee for Economic Development’s (CED) previous work in early education by providing the economic evidence that justifies increasing investments in preschool. CED finds that the economy will benefit from a better prepared workforce, increased employment opportunities, stronger growth, and rising standards of living, while society will benefit from less crime, enhanced schools, and children who are better prepared to participate in democratic processes. While extending high-quality, publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs to all three- and four-year-old children will be costly, requiring $16 billion to $27 billion annually in new funding, the cost of not investing in preschool will likely cost far more later. In fact, the authors report that implementing preschool programs is expected to generate significant public and private benefits, producing $2 to $4 in net present-value benefits for every dollar invested. For every preschool dollar spent, states are projected to recoup 50 to 85 cents in reduced crime costs and 36 to 77 cents in school savings. By 2080, preschool programs could boost gross domestic product by 3.5 percent, as well as raise long-run state employment levels by 1.3 percent. The report also provides the following recommendations: communities, states and the nation should make access to publicly funded, high-quality preschool programs a priority; publicly funded preschool programs should meet the quality standards necessary to deliver their potential economic benefits; and federal, state, and local governments should consider the broad economic benefits of preschool when deciding how to allocate resources in the face of competing uses and demands.
There is increased interest in California and other states in providing universal access to publicly funded high-quality preschool education for one or two years prior to kindergarten entry. In considering such a program, policymakers and the public focus on the potential benefits from a universal preschool program, as well as the estimated costs. This study aims to inform such deliberations by conducting an analysis of the economic returns from investing in preschool education in the state of California. The benefit-cost analysis undertaken in this study indicates that there can be positive returns for California society from investing in a one-year high-quality universal preschool program. The authors’ baseline estimate, which is arguably conservative, is that every dollar invested by the public sector beyond current spending will generate $2.62 in returns. And this estimate does not account for an array of other benefits not captured in their analysis because of data limitations. Those other potential benefits include lower intangible losses from crime and child abuse, reduced reliance on public welfare programs, improved labor market outcomes for parents of preschoolers, improved health and well-being of preschool participants, and the intergenerational transmission of favorable benefits. Broader economic and non-economic benefits may accrue in other areas as well, including labor force recruitment and participation rates, workforce performance, economic growth, international competitiveness, and the distribution of economic and social well-being.
This policy brief analyzes the impact of a high-quality universal preschool policy on economic growth. Using results from the studies of the Perry Preschool Project, which delivered a high quality program to a small group of disadvantaged children in the 1960s, but adjusting these results for the probable attenuation associated with delivering the program to a much broader and less disadvantaged group of children, the authors found that their model predicts substantial gains in gross domestic product (GDP), and in the stocks of physical and human capital, across a wide range of assumptions about the growth process. With their assumptions, the authors predict an increase in GDP in 2080 of over $2 trillion, an increase of about 3.5 percent. By 2080, a national program would cost the federal government approximately $59 billion, but generate enough additional growth in federal revenue to cover the costs of the program several times over, with a net fiscal surplus of $341 billion.
This study of high-quality prekindergarten programs in five states reveals significant improvement in children's early language, literacy and mathematical development, improvement far greater than found in a recent national study of the federal Head Start program. The study finds that children attending state-funded pre-k programs in the five states (Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia) gained significantly regardless of ethnic background or economic circumstances. Key findings were: 1) children who attended state-funded preschool showed gains in vocabulary scores that were about 31 percent greater than gains of children without the program; 2) state-funded preschool increased children's gains in math skills by 44 percent compared to children's growth without the program; and 3) state-funded preschool produced an 85 percent increase in growth in print awareness among children enrolled compared to growth of children without the program.
There is abundant evidence demonstrating that states should fund quality preschool programs. However, there is less research available to suggest how much funding is necessary for programs to achieve their desired effects. This report presents current state spending on preschool, identifies some aspects of programs that are clearly related to cost, and offers estimates of the state commitment necessary to achieve various levels of access and quality. The authors conclude that whether one’s policy preference is to ensure access and quality for children from low-income families or extend the benefits of pre-kindergarten to all children, these goals can be reached without undue strain on state budgets. Minimal parity with K-12 spending for a half-day program could be achieved for only $125 million. Adequately funded programs could be delivered to all children from low-income families with $1.5 to $3 billion in new state spending, if accompanied by a federal commitment of an additional $1.3 billion to improve the educational quality of Head Start. All children would be well served if states would commit $8 to $12 billion.
This report by the Pre-K for All DC Campaign outlines how pre-k benefits the District of Columbia by preparing children for school, reducing the crime rate, and building a more employable workforce. Using local District data, this report indicates that high-quality pre-k would save the District over $29.88 million over the course of students’ K-12 education in reduced special education, grade retention rates and increases in student achievement. Further, the authors argue that pre-k reduces healthcare costs and lowers the crime rate. Pre-k preventative healthcare services would allow the District to save $6.93 million over the course of a child’s life. Additionally, the city’s incarceration rates would fall dramatically, saving District residents $17.62 million. The report also shows significant tax revenue increases of $27.02 million as a result of pre-k for all. The tax increases stem from parents who re-enter the workforce sooner and pre-k children who enter adulthood as more productive workers. Currently pre-k is offered to 46% of three-year olds and 69% of four-year olds. However, less than 20% of programs meet research-based national quality standards. The authors recommend the additional investments necessary to create a high quality pre-k system.
The positive effects of high-quality early education found for cognitive, linguistic, social, and economic outcomes has led to substantial public investment in preschool programs for economically disadvantaged children. An important question in the design of public preschool programs is whether learning increases as time in preschool is increased. The results of a randomized trial comparing the effects of extended-day, extended-year public preschool to half-day preschool on children's literacy and mathematics learning are presented in this report. The authors found that children who attended an extended-day, extended-year preschool program experienced greater improvement in test scores compared to peers who attended half-day programs. While the results clearly indicate that duration and intensity matter, the authors recommend further research is needed to augment this single study of half-day vs. extended-day preschool.
This report examines whether the supply of qualified early childhood teachers would be adequate to meet a potentially growing demand if the state of Illinois was able to increase access to preschool. The authors found that there is a ready and potentially willing reserve pool of qualified teachers. In fact, the authors identified a reserve pool of 5,400 qualified teachers who were not working in the Illinois public schools in 2002-2003. After randomly selecting 4,000 individuals to complete a survey, they found that 84% of Type 4 certified teachers (3,402) would consider working in an early childhood center setting under certain conditions. When asked to identify their top three incentives, salaries trumped everything else. This study provides compelling evidence that salaries make it hard to recruit certified teachers to early childhood centers, not the setting. About half (45%) would work for less than $40,000 on a full-time, full-year basis. Another 29% wanted $40,000-$49,000.
This report focuses attention on the publicly-funded early care and education system overseen by the Office of Early Childhood Development in the District of Columbia. The authors address the issues and offer recommendations to significantly improve access to quality early care and education, accountability at all levels, and outcomes for children. Recommendations include: defining and implementing one definition of successful early care and education for children entering kindergarten; implementing a single early learning standard; conducting a multi-pronged longitudinal study to measure impact and quality over time; securing stable long-term funding; maximizing federal funds; assessing the economic impact of early care and education on the local and regional economy; and increasing professional developing opportunities for teachers.
This policy paper provides a road map for moving the District of Columbia from a disjointed system to one that is focused on quality, centered around the child, considerate of and responsive to family needs, and is comprehensive and planned. The report presents information on a variety of components including the current status, sustainable funding mechanisms, professional development, and evaluation on early childhood education in the city. The authors provide four major issues that can be implemented immediately to advance the vision of a city-wide strategy to universal school readiness: 1) finalize the MOU between DC Public Schools and the Office of Early Childhood Development; 2) maximize federal dollars; 3) establish a sub-cabinet working group that includes community representation; and 4) make early care and education a top priority in the city’s budget and policy discussions. The paper also offers further recommendations to advance the movement for universal school readiness: 1) establish stable funding mechanisms; 2) determine the true cost of sustaining a diverse early care and education system; 3) ensure systemic changes are made so that collaboration and coordination can be established; 4) prioritize staffing issues since it plays an integral role to quality early care and education; and 5) determine a date when universal school readiness will be a reality.
This report critiques the Reason Foundation’s late February 2006 report criticizing California’s Preschool for All Initiative. The author argues that 11 specific assertions by preschool opponents are misleading or untrue. The author’s rebuttal highlights the proven value of preschool education as young Americans move through grade school, middle school, high school and onto college and into the workforce. The author also challenges assertions by the Reason Foundation about the costs of the Preschool for All Initiative.
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