If you had an opportunity to make an investment that you knew would bring a 7-to-1 return, you'd do it in a heartbeat. We should think the same way as citizens and taxpayers. We ought to jump at the opportunity to make public investments that produce broad public benefits. Universal preschool represents just such an opportunity.
As the Progressive Policy Institute detailed in a recent report, children who attend high-quality preschool programs that prepare them to read and build cognitive, verbal, and social skills go on to do measurably better in school and in life than kids who don't have that opportunity. They get better scores on academic achievement tests in school, they go on to get better jobs, and they are less likely to become dependent on welfare or to commit crimes.
Studies of high-quality preschool programs in North Carolina and Michigan have found that public investments in such programs could, in fact, deliver a 7-to-1 return in the long run, in the form of increased productivity and decreased social spending.
In the context of those findings, America's current system of early education represents an enormous missed opportunity. It's a patchwork system that includes daycare arrangements amounting to little more than babysitting; programs that purport to be preschool, but in fact have underqualified teachers and weak academic focus; a few high-quality public preschool programs; Head Start programs; and high-quality, but expensive, options for those who can afford private school.
Disadvantaged children are the worst-served. Less than one-half of them attend preschool at all, perpetuating an academic preparation gap between poor and middle-class kids.
It's a waste. We can do better.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act was a sweeping effort to ensure that all kids can reach high standards in their K-12 education. We need to deliver on that promise by fully funding NCLB, and by undertaking an equally bold universal preschool initiative to make sure that every child enters school ready to learn in the first place.
Rather than impose a one-size-fits-all preschool system, Congress and the president should leave it to the states to design their own programs. But that shouldn't mean giving states blank-check block grants, as President Bush has proposed for Head Start. Instead, federal investments in early childhood education should be coupled with strong accountability measures. The goal should be a performance-based system, where federal funds are contingent upon state compliance with broad standards for quality and demonstrated progress toward closing the preschool preparation gap.
There are already working models in a few states that could be widely replicated.
Georgia began funding a universal pre-K program in 1993 with earmarked proceeds from a state lottery. Any 4-year-old in the state is eligible to enroll. Pre-K is offered through a diverse network of public schools, private and nonprofit preschool programs, and Head Start agencies, which are approved and funded on a per-pupil basis. Those providers must meet basic health and safety requirements. Teachers must have either a Child Development Associate credential or a degree in early childhood education. Class sizes must be limited to 20 students. And the programs must use scientifically based school readiness curricula. Programs that meet higher standards are funded at a higher rate.
Nearly eight in 10 4-year-olds in Georgia are enrolled in either Head Start or universal pre-K, and the results have been impressive. A University of Georgia study found that the pre-K students improved their school readiness scores relative to national norms. It also found the pre-K system eliminated the skills gap between universal pre-K students and the more affluent students whose parents sent them to private programs.
Oklahoma also has a successful system. Established by the state Legislature in 1998, it allows public school districts to get state per-pupil funding for each 4-year-old they enroll in preschool. More than 90 percent of the state's school districts now offer voluntary preschool programs, and 65 percent of the 4-year-olds are enrolled in one.
Because Oklahoma's system is run through the school districts, its teachers meet the same requirements as other elementary school teachers in the state: They must have a bachelor's degree and certification in early childhood education. But beyond the requirements that apply to public schools generally, the pre-K programs have flexibility on curricula and class sizes, among other things.
That system has gotten results. A Georgetown University study found gains in the children's cognitive and language assessment scores -- particularly among African-American and Hispanic children, whose scores improved by an average of 17 percent and 54 percent, respectively.
A national investment to ensure that programs like those in Georgia and Oklahoma are available everywhere would be money well spent.
