From Statehouse to Courthouse, Preschool Gaining Ground

As the nation enters the final leg of the 2006 election season, early childhood education is being discussed by candidates in state elections across the country. The emphasis on preschool comes from momentum that preschool advocates have been building for years, based on well-established research showing a “readiness gap” between low-income and high-income children before they even enter school. Research also demonstrates that early childhood education offers one of the most effective and efficient ways to narrow the achievement gap. From statehouse proposals to courthouse decrees, preschool is gaining ground.

Just providing preschool is not a silver bullet, however. As discussed in a report released this month by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at Columbia University, in order to improve the early literacy and math skills of low-income children, preschool must be of a high quality. The report summarizes the existing research regarding preschool effectiveness and presents recommendations for policymakers and school administrators.

Closing the Readiness Gap

The report, “Effective Preschool Curricula and Teaching Strategies,” is the second in NCCP’s “Pathways to Early School Success” series of issue briefs. This brief reviews and summarizes the research into both the challenges facing preschool education for low-income children and the potential solutions to those challenges.

Drawing upon a wide body of research, including that of Sharon Lynn Kagan at Teachers College, Columbia University, the report describes the gap in readiness for school between children from low-income and high-income backgrounds and explains that high-quality preschools are very effective in reducing this “readiness gap.” However, many preschools, particularly those in the lower-income areas where they are most needed, deliver a poor quality of care and education. The report recommends ways to develop high-quality preschools, focusing on two factors: intentional curriculum and professional development.

Intentional curriculum, the report says, means “planned, organized, sequenced activities and lessons” that are age-appropriate but focus on academic readiness. Such a curriculum, must be based on research into what skills, when learned in preschool, can predict success in elementary education. In addition, intentional curriculum is a comprehensive endeavor, emphasizing not just the content of preschool education, but also teachers’ engagement with children, the types of activities children experience, and the attention given to developing social skills.

On professional development, the report reviews studies that demonstrate the importance of specialized early childhood training for preschool teachers and argues that preschool teachers should receive such training. In addition, preschool teachers need to have access to ongoing mentoring or coaching by experts in early childhood development and education.

The report concludes with a series of recommendations for policymakers, researchers, school administrators, and teachers. The recommendations to policymakers call for increased resources for training, as well as investment in experimental research that can determine what elements compose a successful curriculum. For school administrators and teachers, the report recommends increased professional development and alignment of preschool curricula with K-3 standards in order to produce sustained achievement as a child progresses through school.

NIEER: Preschool Affects All Domains of Learning

The report also draws upon research done by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. NIEER’s Preschool Policy Brief, published last April, states that early literacy is highly correlated with school achievement later in life. Furthermore, it explains that “all of the domains of a child’s development – physical, social-emotional, cognitive, language and literacy – are interrelated and interdependent.”

According to NIEER's policy brief, the interdependency of all areas of a child’s learning makes high-quality preschool a necessity for children:

A growing body of evidence shows that early learning experiences are linked with later school achievement, emotional and social well-being, fewer grade retentions, and reduced incidences of juvenile delinquency and that these outcomes are all factors associated with later adult productivity.

The importance of high-quality preschool means policymakers and school administrators need to develop curricula and teaching practices that are “evidence-based” and “integrated with all domains of learning.” Researchers must study the effectiveness of early literacy curricula and teaching practices, and policymakers and administrators must provide increased resources for preschool teachers, including specialized training, expert coaches, and professional development.

Courts and Policymakers

The NCCP report is part of a growing national trend that recognizes high-quality preschool as a crucial element of efforts to narrow the achievement gap. Beginning with the Abbott v. Burke school funding case in New Jersey, and most recently in the Abbeville v. State case in South Carolina, courts recognize the importance of early childhood education in alleviating the detrimental effects of poverty. South Carolina circuit court judge Thomas W. Cooper, Jr. last December held:

[E]arly childhood intervention at the pre-kindergarten level and continuing through at least grade three is necessary to minimize, to the extent possible, the impact and the effect of poverty on the educational abilities and achievements of…children.

For low-income children to receive an adequate education, high-quality preschool is a necessity, and lawmakers across the country are starting to agree and are slowly improving access. Last year, 26 states increased preschool funding by a total of $600 million, and this spring, Illinois joined Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma in providing preschool to all four-year-olds.

Prepared by Matthew Samberg, October 13, 2006