State of Preschool Yearbook 2015 Released!

The 2015 State Preschool Yearbook is the newest edition of our annual report profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs. It covers the 2014-2015 year as well as documenting more than a decade of change from as far back as 2001-2002. The 2015 Yearbook profiles 57 state-funded pre-K programs in 42 states plus the District of Columbia and also provides narrative information on early education efforts in the eight states and the U.S. territories that do not provide state-funded pre-K. For more information, check our website. Video footage of our press event is available here.

Among the most interesting and in-depth reporting related to the Yearbook are articles by Michelle Chen in The Nation and Kathleen Lucadamo of the Hechinger Report in the Christian Science Monitor. 

For a quick look at the implications for policy, NIEER Director Steve Barnett provides his views in blog at the Washington Post here.

Power to the Profession

NIEER is pleased to join other national organizations participating in Power to the Profession, a two year collaborative initiative to establish these professional guidelines for early childhood educators across all states and settings. Power to the Profession will give early educators an opportunity to contribute to a comprehensive set of the guidelines that advance their livelihoods and improve their lives. NAEYC has identified a national taskforce of organizations that represent and engage large groups of early childhood professionals. This collaborative endeavor also include national organizations with systems-level influence on the profession, as well as virtual and local in-person town hall meetings to provide opportunities for even broader participation by the field. While there have been many efforts to set professional standards, Power to the Profession is designed to move the entire profession forward with a unified voice. In the coming months, there will be opportunities to engage in this national initiative. Learn more at http://bit.ly/1PKp2wq.

Transforming the Early Childhood Education Workforce

The 2015 Institute of Medicine and National Research Council’s (IOM & NRC) Transforming the Workforce report highlights the state’s role in creating a pathway for early care and education (ECE) teachers to acquire education and professional development to meet the demands of their important role. The IOM & NRC recommend that policymakers craft a coherent blueprint for improving ECE teachers’ education and wages, thereby improving ECE quality.

Data

"Assessing the Implementation and Cost of High Quality Early Care and Education: A Review of the Literature." It is funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation of the Department of Health and Human Services: http://1.usa.gov/1TVvzE7.

The First Five Years Fund has released a new resource to show what early learning under the Every Student Succeeds Act can look like for states and districts: http://bit.ly/1WNhWxo.

In Ten Questions Local Policymakers Should Ask About Expanding Access to Preschool American Institutes for Research (AIR)'s Susan Muenchow and Emily Weinberg identify and explain major considerations for expanding access to preschool, with tables and program comparisons for cities across the country.

Research Connections has provided a new policy brief that builds on the research review and policy recommendations in the recent HHS/DOE policy statement on preschool inclusion for children with disabilities. It addresses the effects of inclusive preschool on learning and development, the quality of inclusive preschool programs, and how quality can be improved.

The Inter-American Development Bank provides a new resource How is Child Care Quality Measured? authored by Florencia López Bóo, María Caridad Araujo and Romina Tomé. This toolkit is for anyone interested in measuring and monitoring the quality of child care centers serving infants from birth to age 3.

Rachel Valentino and Deborah Stipek of PACE provide a valuable new policy brief on PreK-3 alignment in California that examines obstacles and opportunities.  Even those in other states will find this an insightful guide to research and issues regarding P-3 alignment and an informative case study to help inform research and policy in every state.

Opportunities
 

• Slides from Jim Squires' presentation here: Quality Matters: National Initiatives to Support Inclusion shares initiatives, resources, and lessons learned to support state and local efforts in developing quality systems of inclusive services. Participants will have an opportunity to review the recommendations from the federal Position Statement on Inclusion and discuss how these recommendations can work for them. Jim Squires (CEELO) presented with Beth Caron (RTT-ELC TA) and Shelley deFosset (ELC TA and PDG TA) at the National Inclusion Institute on May 11, 2016 at Chapel Hill, NC.
   
• State Pre-K Approved Curricula provides responses from state contacts on the NAECS-SDE listserv about state-approved curriculum models for pre-K programs in their state. The majority of respondents said the state did not provide an approved curricula list, though many provided some level of guidance around selection. Links to state resources are provided. 

First Early Childhood Education Action Congress

You are invited to join the First Early Childhood Education Action Congress, hosted by the Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), to be held in Paris on June 6-7th, 2016.  This event will bring together 450 leaders from many countries to discuss how to build the political and public support needed to ensure that all children of the world get a good start in life.

Participants will discuss how to attract new advocates for early childhood, what messages are most effective in building support, and what programs can be scaled up to reach large populations of children.  The meeting location is the OECD headquarters at the historic Chateau de la Muette.  

For more information and registration, visit www.eduensemble.org. 

NAEYC National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development

This workshop offers early childhood policy makers, advocates, and practitioners a different view of pre-K–3 systems building by sharing one state's story of creating and implementing guidelines-based learning in grades 1–3. Come and learn about how teachers and administrators in the early elementary grades are being asked to emphasize inquiry, projects, and a child-responsive approach to teaching.

Sharon Ryan, Shannon Riley-Ayers and Vincent Costanza are all experienced early childhood educators with over 15 years of classroom experience between them.  They all have past experience presenting at PDI and the NAEYC annual conference and know how to ensure that participants are engaged  and learn something that they might apply to their own work contexts. 

Third Annual Conference of Early Childhood Social Impact Performance Advisors

The Third Annual Conference of the Early Childhood Social Impact Performance Advisors, will be held June 22-24 in Denver, Colorado. Cohosted by the Institute for Child Success, ReadyNation, and the Sorenson Impact Center at the University of Utah, this is a major national conference on Pay for Success (PFS) social impact financing and the only such conference focused on early childhood Pay for Success.

Individuals and jurisdictional teams must apply for attendance by April 20. To get more information and apply, visit this page: http://pfs.instituteforchildsuccess.org/third-annual-early-childhood-soc...

Free Summer Data Workshop: Early Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (Baby FACES)

Assessment praises New Mexico’s pre-K progress

 New Mexico has made strides on pre-kindergarten education, climbing from 28th to 18th in the nation for spending on pre-K programs. The new 2015 State Preschool Yearbook, released last week by Rutgers University’s National Institute of Early Education Research, complimented the state’s “significant progress through a concerted effort to increase enrollment and funding and improve quality.”

A total of 8,397 4-year-olds participated in New Mexico pre-K during the 2014-2015 school year at a cost of $39.6 million, according to the report – a boost from the 7,674 enrolled the year before at a budget of $27.2 million. State spending was $4,722 per child, slightly above the $4,489 national average. In addition, New Mexico met NIEER’s standard on eight of 10 pre-K quality measures, falling short only on degree requirements for teachers and assistant teachers.

Secretary of Education Hanna Skandera said the results reflect her administration’s commitment to early learning. “It shows that we have been responsible in our scaling, but aggressive,” Skandera told the Journal . “We are investing where it matters most and seeing more and more students have the opportunity to participate in pre-K and keeping the quality high, while still increasing the number of students participating and increasing our investments every year.”

Hawaii’s state-run preschool programs receive first report card, indicates room for improvement

State funded pre-kindergarten education still has a long way to go in Hawaii despite significant progress in 2014-15, according to a report by the nonpartisan National Institute for Early Education Research located at Rutgers University and made available by a press release from the Hawaii Children’s Action Network. Hawaii’s Executive Office on Early Learning (EOEL) launched a pre-K program in 2014-15, allowing the state’s inclusion in The State of Preschool Report for the first time this year. In its initial year, the EOEL’s program served 365 students in 20 classrooms across 18 schools. Those numbers rose in 2015-16, when the program served 420 4-year-old students in 21 classrooms across 19 schools.

“Hawaii’s economic future depends on early investment in its youngest citizens,” said Deborah Zysman, Executive Director for Hawaii Children’s Action Network. Hawaii ranked seventh in the country in the area of state spending and ninth in all reported spending, but those numbers are per capita figures, not total spending. Each state-sponsored classroom is located within a public school, as Hawaii state law prohibits public funding of privately run preschool programs.

Report: Wisconsin stands out for preschool access

Wisconsin ranks sixth in the country for access to free preschool programs for 4-year-olds, according to the annual State of Preschool report from the National Institute of Early Education Research. The institute found 64 percent of Wisconsin 4-year-olds were enrolled in state-funded preschool in 2015, down from 66 percent in 2014 but still more than double the national average of 29 percent. An additional 7 percent of 4-year-olds were enrolled in Head Start, a free, federally funded preschool program for children from low-income households. . .

Part of the reason for Wisconsin’s high rate of preschool attendance is the state’s 4-year-old kindergarten, or 4K,  program. Free, voluntary schooling for 4-year-olds was written into the state’s constitution in 1848. In 2015 95 percent of the state’s eligible school districts offered 4K. School districts that opt to offer the part-time program receive state funds equal to about half the support they receive for older students. Despite the high participation numbers however, the 4K program hit only five of the institute's 10 quality benchmarks, like class sizes of 20 students or fewer.

Oklahoma remains a leader in pre-K education

Recently the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) released its annual State of Preschool 2015 report, which ranked Oklahoma fourth in the nation in preschool access for 4-year-olds. While Oklahoma maintained its ranking from the previous school year, the state fell from 26th to 28th in state funding. Joy Hofmeister, Oklahoma’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction, highlighted the importance of pre-k to Oklahoma’s schoolchildren.

“Oklahoma continues to distinguish itself as a national leader in early childhood education, even while doing more with less. But we have more work to do,” she said. “A parent is a child’s first, and most important, teacher. While we recognize that a nurturing home is every child’s first classroom, in a state with high poverty, access to early childhood education is crucial to shaping the future trajectory of all learners. We are committed to building on our established foundations in order to further positive outcomes for our youngest generation.”

What should quality child care look like?

The man who is at the top of the state’s heap when it comes to early learning acknowledges the limitations when it comes to talking about what quality should look like. And how a parent can get guidance about how to make a good choice. “Quite candidly, it’s just as challenging as a state administrator,” says Rodney MacKinnon, executive director of the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Early Learning. “It’s a complicated issue that has a lot of underlying conflicts in it.” MacKinnon’s office offers a “quality checklist” they encourage parents to use when evaluating a child care center. It recommends visiting at least three centers before choosing one.

“A lot of the things are hard to quantify,” MacKinnon says. “If you walk into a center and the staff are happy, organized, they’re friendly with the parents, who along with the children, are the customer, they have an intentional lesson plan, these things speak to a passion for caring about the kids in a deliberative and intentional manner.

Flint schools expanding early childhood education program with U of M-Flint

The Flint public school district is expanding early childhood education programs. The three-, four- and five-year-olds at the Great Expectations Early Childhood Program at Holmes STEM Academy are the lucky ones. The waiting list to get into this program is hundreds of names long. But Superintendent Bilal Tawwab says the University of Michigan-Flint is working to expand the program, which he says is critical.

“It always had been, but given the lead in our community is even more critical to activate children’s minds and bodies to combat the effects of lead exposure,” says Tawwab. 

Studies have shown early education and nutrition programs help counter the effects of lead in the body.

“We offer learning opportunities through every chance we get in the classroom,” says teacher Shauna Philips.   

Ashley Smith’s four-year-old daughter Tionna is part of the Great Expectations program. Smith says her daughter is developmentally delayed, and this program is very important for her.

“Having this available is amazing,” Smith says. “I have to bribe her to come home at the end of the day.”

But until now, it’s been very difficult to get their pre-school age children into the program. The waiting list is about 300 names long.

2015 Preschool Yearbook: Still A Long Way To Go

Today the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) released its 2015 State of Preschool yearbook. This annual report presents helpful data on the state of pre-K programs nationally as well as breakdowns of each state’s progress in providing high-quality pre-K services to three- and four-year-olds.

The report details modest gains in pre-K access, quality, and funding across the nation. Average state spending per child enrolled in pre-K increased by $287 in 2015 to a national average of $4,489 per child. This is the third straight year in which average spending has increased, though average spending levels are still lower than they were in 2002 and 2004 (as depicted below). Nationwide, state spending on pre-K rose by about $553 million in 2015, an increase of 10 percent. It’s important to note however, that two-thirds of this funding increase is the result of New York City’s rapid expansion of full-day pre-K under the leadership of Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Enrollment in State-Funded Preschools Rising, Report Says

In 2014-2015, the number of students in state-funded preschools in the US rose to almost 1.4 million – an increase of 37,167 students from the previous year. Overall, 29% of 3, 4, and 5-year-olds are enrolled in state-funded preschool programs.

A report released from the National Institute for Early Education Research found a wide range of per-pupil spending programs. For example, New Jersey spends $12,149 for each child enrolled in pre-K compared with $2,304 in Florida and $1,981 in South Carolina.

State funding for pre-K rose by $553 million overall in the 2014-15 year. Spending in New York, which implemented universal pre-K education in New York City under Mayor Bill de Blasio, accounted for two-thirds of that increase.

The authors of the report say New York City “provides an example of a city that successfully worked with its state to move an entire state forward, though it remains to be seen how much and how fast progress is extended to the rest of New York state.”

Karen Matthews of the The Big Story writes that the Institute, which advocates early childhood education, is under contract with the National Center for Education Statistics. The report tracks the quality of measures such as class sizes and teacher-training requirements.

Report card: Colorado’s spending on preschool pales in comparison to national leaders

Colorado has sunk closer to the bottom of the pack for state preschool funding, according to an annual report card released Thursday. The state, which spends a paltry amount on preschool per pupil compared to top-scorers like Washington, DC, dropped from 35 to 41 in 2015. Only South Carolina and Mississippi spent less per child than Colorado. Eight other states with no publicly funded preschool programs weren’t ranked. On a measure of 4-year-old preschool access, Colorado’s ranking stayed exactly the same: No. 22. That’s even with a small increase in 2015 in the number of 4-year-olds participating in the Colorado Preschool Program.

The state-by-state comparisons, put out by the National Institute for Early Education Research, also revealed that Colorado meets six of 10 benchmarks designed to judge preschool quality. That number—the same as neighboring Kansas and lower than Nebraska and New Mexico —is unchanged from the previous year.

Expanding Opportunity: One Child at a Time

One of the most cost-effective ways to increase equity in education and expand opportunity to our nation’s children is to invest in high-quality preschool for our youngest learners – and not just some of them, but all of them. Federal- and state-led efforts over the past seven-and-a-half years have helped our country make progress toward this goal. In 2009, only 38 statesoffered children access to state-funded preschool, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama called for all children to have access to high-quality, state-supported preschool. Since the President’s announcement, all but four states offer preschool to young children and nearly 40 states and Washington, D.C., have invested more than an additional $1.5 billion in support of preschool.

Bentley announces $15 Million awarded for pre-K grants

Governor Robert Bentley on Tuesday announced over 150 new grants that will provide more than 2,700 additional Alabama four-year-olds with access to high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten."Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten is a proven program that prepares students for success," Governor Robert Bentley said. "Only 20 percent of Alabama's four-year-olds are currently enrolled in the First Class program. Along with the support of legislative funding, we will continue to expand access to this program until every Alabama parent who wants their child to attend has access. I appreciate the staff at the Department of Early Childhood Education for working hard to help organizations receive grants." 

The grants announced by Governor Bentley will expand Alabama's First Class voluntary pre-k program to more schools, faith-based preschools, child care centers, Head Start locations, and other new and expanding pre-k sites across the state. Grants were awarded based on several criteria including local needs, local demand and assurances of high quality standards at the new and expanding pre-k sites. Each grantee is required to supplement the grant award with an amount equal to or greater than 25% of the award amount. Remaining grants will be allocated to additional sites based on various needs in the near future.

IBM and Sesame Workshop Aim to Personalize Learning for Preschoolers

Just call him Adaptive Learning Elmo.

The Sesame Street icon and his peers — all longtime staples of early childhood educational programming — will soon draw on IBM Watson cognitive computing technology to personalize preschool learning experiences.

The three-year collaboration between IBM and nonprofit Sesame Workshop will tap teachers, researchers, technologists, performers and other experts in their fields to determine how Watson’s natural language processing, data mining, pattern recognition and other advanced capabilities might best serve preschoolers.

“The center effort is about building deeply engaging learning experiences that are meant to assist the teacher or the caregiver,” IBM Master Inventor Satya Nitta says in a company video. Nitta is also the program leader of the Cognitive Learning Content research group at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center.

Research and development for the project is already underway, with IBM and Sesame Workshop testing interactive learning platforms and interfaces before releasing prototypes to key education and technology leaders.

Sesame Workshop’s expertise in education and storytelling will form the final pieces of the puzzle. The nonprofit has spent more than 45 years researching children’s brain development, using insights to create educational content that reaches children of all socio-economic backgrounds.

In an IBM blog post, Sesame Workshop CEO Jeff Dunn says the partnership with IBM will take the Sesame Street brand’s successes a step further.

“Television reaches every kid with the same programming in the same way,” he writes. “But we know that kids learn differently from one another and that they need — and deserve — a new approach that takes each one of them into consideration.”

A Watson-enabled learning platform could be the solution.

“This project will be a great equalizer, ultimately providing children from all backgrounds with the opportunity for meaningful, personalized education in their most formative years,” Dunn adds.

Harvard Ed School launches major early childhood education initiative

A new early childhood program that seeks to promote research and teaching in the field of child development is underway at Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE), thanks to a $35.5 million gift from the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation.

The donation, HGSE's single biggest donation to date, will put Harvard at the forefront of research into effective, accessible early childhood education, school officials said.

"It's one of the most significant investments in early childhood education," HGSE dean James Ryan told The Boston Globe. "I think it will give us the capacity to tackle some of the most important issues and challenges in early childhood education, which are basically about how you create high quality pre-K for all kids."

For years, studies have emphasized the importance of early childhood education, or ECE, for laying the foundations of lifelong learning and development. Yet about half of the country's 3- to 4-year-olds aren't enrolled in full-day schools, often because of parents' financial restrictions. 

"There's a great deal of really promising evidence about the benefits of high-quality pre-K," Dean Ryan told Harvard Magazine. "But there aren't enough high-quality pre-K programs, and there's not enough clarity on the essential components of a high-quality pre-K program. The initiative will take the evidence about the benefits of pre-K and build capacity in the field to make sure high-quality pre-K is available to all kids."

The donation comes as awareness of the merits of preschool and pre-K is gaining momentum, with several cities attempting to fund more accessible programming. Many advocates, however, feel that philanthropists have given less attention to a pre-K foundation, compared to efforts in funding K-12 programs. 

Free Preschool in Flint Will Mitigate Lead Effects

A new free preschool in Flint will mitigate lead effects for young children by providing services to fight the impact that lead exposure has had on them.

Preschool — The solution to black achievement gap?

It's mid-morning, and Evevett Fugate has been up all night. She takes her youngest, Ovalia, to preschool class for 4-year-olds, then picks her up at 11 a.m.

Idaho Still Lacks State-Funded Preschool

Springfield schools to spend $2.4M offer free, expanded preschool

Hundreds of preschoolers in the Springfield City School District will be able to attend classes for free next year as it plans to spend $2.4 million on early childhood education.

The commitment to fund free preschool beyond what state grants cover comes from the district’s belief that it’s the key to turning around poor test scores, Superintendent Bob Hill said.

“Philosophically and based on current research, the district strongly supports and is willing to invest in the effects of early childhood education,” he said.

But new research studying Tennessee’s public preschool has questioned the long-term value of early education programs. Hill, though, said it will be critical for a district like Springfield.

“In a high poverty district, it is vitally important to provide preschool opportunities to allow all students to enter kindergarten on equal footing,” he said.

Springfield failed to meet a single performance indicator on the state report card each of the past two years.

Springfield was awarded nearly $1.2 million from the Ohio Department of Education to serve 293 economically disadvantaged 4-year-olds through both Head Start classrooms and the district’s in-house preschool program.

New National Program Offers Unique Tools for Early Educators to Promote Young Children’s Brain and Language Development

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Too Small to Fail, the National Head Start Association, and the National Association for Family Child Care launch “STRIVE for 5: Talk, Read, Sing Early Learning Boot Camp” to provide educators with engaging, user-friendly resources to create language-rich early learning environments.

Global learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) and Too Small to Fail, in partnership with the National Head Start Association (NHSA) and the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), announces STRIVE for 5, a hands-on bilingual (English/Spanish) program designed to provide early educators instant tools and ideas to promote children’s language development and improve the quality of early learning environments. The goal of STRIVE for 5 is to equip early educators with concrete resources to support the growth and development of young children from infancy to age five—along with hands-on materials and strategies to engage parents and families.

The program is divided into five user-friendly segments, with key information and tools to help educators create a vocabulary-rich early learning environment and enrich daily moments with activities like talking, reading, and singing. 

Bringing brain development 101 to kids who miss preschool

The hidden lesson of the painting activity demonstrates what makes Book Sprouts different from many daytime parenting gatherings. The group, coordinated by the social service agency Children's Bureau, aims to give parents the skills to bolster their children's development and help close the gaps between children who are enrolled in preschool and those who miss out. It’s a widespread problem across L.A. County: child care is hard to find. A recent study found that of the 260,000 3- and 4-year-olds in the county, there are only enough licensed preschool seats for 160,000. This means many children may stay home, or are looked after by a neighbor or relative. And those are the children that Children's Bureau is trying to reach. Its Family Community Enrichment program trains volunteer parents in early childhood basics so they can lead groups like Book Sprouts out in the community.

Genesis Rosa coordinates the Family Enrichment program at Children’s Bureau. When a child is in quality preschool, often parents will be guided by teachers in bolstering their child’s development, Rosa said. But many families have no access to early care experts. “Understanding what your child can do will allow you as a parent to understand them even more,” Rosa said.

Mississippi’s early learning collaboratives rated among top five in nation for quality standards

he National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) recognized Mississippi’s Early Learning Collaboratives (ELC) in its 2015 State of Preschool yearbook for meeting all 10 quality standards for early childhood education, which puts Mississippi among only five states in the nation that meet all 10 benchmarks. The NIEER report presents data on the state of pre-K programs nationally as well as breakdowns of each state’s progress in providing high-quality pre-K services.

“This recognition from the National Institute for Early Education Research affirms that Mississippi’s Early Learning Collaboratives are helping children get a strong start for success in school and life,” said Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education. “I commend all of the teachers, administrators and community partners who have worked together through the collaboratives to provide children in their communities with high-quality early childhood education.” The Mississippi Legislature passed the 2013 Early Learning Collaborative Act to provide funding to local communities to establish, expand, support and facilitate the successful implementation of quality early childhood education and development services. All ELCs include a lead partner, which can be a public school or other nonprofit group with the expertise and capacity to manage a 4-year-old pre-kindergarten program.

D.C. school choice makes Pre-K access tops in the nation

For the third school year, D.C. was ranked first in the nation for Pre-K per-student funding and enrollment. Sara Mead, a D.C. Public Charter School Board member and Pre-K expert, believes the numerous choices of 120 public charter schools and traditional charter schools helped D.C.’s universal Pre-K program claim the top spot. “Having that variety of options is really valuable,” said Mead. Every year, the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University releases a report comparing Pre-K in the states and D.C.. The report highlights Pre-K enrollment, spending and quality standards, putting accountability for students and tax dollars into the spotlight.

A few states and cities offer universal Pre-K at age 4, but D.C. stands out for offering it at age three. This spike in enrollment began after the D.C. Council passed the Pre-K Enhancement and Expansion Act of 2008.  Today, D.C. schools enroll 83 percent of 3-year-olds and 90 percent of 4-year-olds, according to Mead. Nationwide, only 5 percent of 3-year-olds attend Pre-K. Based on MySchoolDC data, all 120  schools offering Pre-K include both 3- and 4-year-olds. D.C. spends far more per-student for Pre-K than the $4,489 national average. Per-student spending for Pre-K totaled $17,509 in 2015, not far off from the $19,504 per-student for K-12.

Starting early

Cincinnati’s childhood poverty rate is among the worst in the country. But if voters approve, the Queen City could be the first to try an ambitious effort to alleviate some of the earliest obstacles that poverty creates and lift up the next generation. Proponents of the Preschool Promise initiative have been planning for two years to put a tax levy on the ballot that would make Cincinnati the first city in the country to guarantee two years of high-quality preschool for every 3- and 4-year-old. And earlier this year, Cincinnati Public Schools started making plans to put its own education levy on the ballot. After months of negotiating, the two officially teamed up this week, announcing a $48 million tax levy proposal that will go to the ballot box in November. That could be huge for the 47 percent of Cincinnati children younger than 6 who live in poverty. “This opportunity represents a commitment by all to quality equitable education and choice for children and families,” said CPS Board President Ericka Copeland-Dansby at a May 23 board meeting, where the joint levy was officially approved. “It has the potential to transform lives, strengthen neighborhoods and improve the economic vitality of our community. . .”

At the state level, Ohio has also been pouring more resources into preschool.For the 2016-17 school year, the state budget allocated $70 million to pay for preschool for 17,000 kids, more than triple what it funded when Gov. John Kasich took office in 2011. According to an annual report released this month by education nonprofit, National Institute for Early Education Research, less than 5 percent of the state’s 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in public preschool. The NIEER report ranks Ohio 36th in the country for preschool enrollment. The report’s rankings didn’t factor in the 34,000 Ohio children who are currently in quality-rated private programs. Ohio’s Department of Jobs and Family Services gave out $82 million last year to help private centers to improve programs, and $35 million of that went to programs with ratings of three stars or higher.   

MTG: Pre-K programs grow significantly--not not in Idaho

Across the country, states spent $6.2 billion on pre-K programs in 2014-15, a $553 million increase. The city of Boise is helping to fund a pre-K pilot program in the Boise School District. These programs served nearly 1.4 million students, up more than 37,000 from the previous year.

The National Institute for Early Education Research chronicled these increases in a recent report — and noted something that isn’t news to Idahoans. Idaho remains one of only eight states without state-funded pre-K. (Earlier this year, another report said Idaho was one of only five states that does not fund pre-K). “Idaho’s economic future depends on early investment in its youngest citizens,” Institute Director Steve Barnett said in a news release. “Ensuring that every child has access to high-quality preschool can help to pave the way for their success in school, on the job, and in Idaho communities.”

How one poor Brooklyn preschool is competing with the best

Student engagement and positive reinforcement like this, experts say, is a sign of a quality prekindergarten program. The Brooklyn school is one of hundreds of preschools across New York City to receive high marks, according to recent results of the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale (ECERS). But what makes this center unusual is that it is serves Bushwick, a high-poverty community in which public elementary schools don’t do well on state and city tests. It’s one of the few schools in a high poverty neighborhood to do so – and it’s providing higher quality education than many of its pre-K counterparts in wealthier school districts. . .

Audrey Johnson and schools like it point to one of the most promising ways to narrow the achievement gap between high poverty children and their middle class counterparts – by providing high quality education before children start kindergarten. “Children in low-income houses start anywhere from a year to 18 months behind in language and mathematics and social and emotional development,” said Steve Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). “Half the achievement gap we talk about in the third grade and beyond starts before they even get in the door of kindergarten.” In 2014-2015, state funding for pre-K shot up more than $553 million over the previous school year, according to NIEER’s 2015 State Preschool Yearbook, making it the third year in a row that state pre-K funding has increased nationally. Almost two-thirds of the current increase is accounted for by New York where Mayor Bill de Blasio has pledged to provide preschool for all eligible children, an estimated 73,000 youngsters.