The annual survey of state-funded preschool programs shows impressive expansion in enrollment and spending. However, the recession may reverse the trend, curtailing early education opportunities for children in lower and middle-income families.
The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) released The State of Preschool 2008 at a news conference here today. Key findings included:
• Enrollment increased by more than 108,000 children. More than 1.1 million children attended state-funded preschool education, 973,178 at age 4 alone.
• Thirty-three of the 38 states with state-funded programs increased enrollment.
• Based on NIEER's Quality Standards Checklist, 11 states improved the quality of their preschool programs. Only one fell back.
• State funding for pre-K rose to almost $4.6 billion. Funding for state pre-K from all reported sources exceeded $5.2 billion, an increase of nearly $1 billion (23 percent) over the previous year.
On a less positive note, whether or not a child receives high-quality preschool education depends on where his or her family lives. Twelve states provided no state-funded preschool in 2008.
Based at Rutgers University, NIEER has produced an annual report on state preschool programs since 2002.
Due to the economy and declining state revenues, the immediate future of state-funded preschool is uncertain. In most states, expenditures on pre-K are entirely discretionary and therefore easier to cut than expenditures for K-12 education and other programs.
NIEER Director Steve Barnett said states are considering enrollment cuts, reductions in program standards, and postponement of expansion plans even with the availability of new federal stimulus funds.
Of the 38 states with state-funded preschool, cuts are likely in at least nine including some of the biggest states – California, Florida, New York, and North Carolina.
Whatever state and federal governments may do to cope with the current economic crisis, Barnett said, "a federal initiative is needed to support early learning and development.
"We propose that the federal government commit to doubling the rate of growth in state pre-K while raising state quality standards so that by the year 2020 all 4-year-olds in America will have access to a good education. To do this, the federal government should match state spending with up to $2,500 for every additional child enrolled in state pre-K programs meeting basic quality standards. In addition, the federal government should facilitate increased integration of child care, Head Start, and state pre-K.
"If the federal government adopts such a course, all of our children will have a brighter future. If it does not, disparities in early education and school readiness will continue to increase, and another generation will pass without the benefits of quality pre-K for all."
Currently, Oklahoma remains the only state where virtually every child can start school at age 4. In at least eight other states, more than half of 4-year-olds attend a public preschool program of some kind.
At the other end of the spectrum, are the 12 states that have no regular state preschool education program: Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. In eight states, less than 20 percent of children are enrolled in a public preschool program at age 4 even taking into account preschool special education and Head Start.
Most states meet a majority of the NIEER's 10 benchmarks for program quality standards, but five states meet fewer than half. These states include three of the four states with the largest populations and numbers of children in pre-K-- California, Texas and Florida.
Texas is the only state that fails to limit both maximum class size and staff-child ratio. California and Maine have limits on staff-child ratio but no class size limit. Most other states limit classes to 20 or fewer children with a teacher and an assistant.
In 2008, enrollment of 3-year-olds continued to rise, though less rapidly than at age 4. The leader in serving 3-year-olds in state pre-K is Illinois, which is the only state committed to serving all 3-year-olds, but it is closely followed by Arkansas. Four states, Illinois, Arkansas, Vermont and New Jersey serve at least 20 percent of children at age 3 in general and special education programs.
Research shows that high-quality pre-K can help improve the educational success of all children and by doing so, decrease school failure and dropout rates, and crime and delinquency. In addition, high-quality preschool education has been found to improve economic productivity and health.
Complete report:
http://nieer.org/yearbook/pdf/yearbook.pdf
Effects of Teachers’ Unions on
Qualification Specific and Incentive Based
Teacher Compensation
This study first provides a review of the current knowledge about the effect of unions on teacher pay. The authors also examining the effects of unions on all the aforementioned aspects with a large nationally representative dataset and also with a smaller, but more recent dataset that provides increased detail on the structure of teacher compensation. They examine the effect that unions have on returns to master’s degrees, benefits as a percent to salary, early and late returns to tenure and the steepness of the salary schedule (measured by the total number of years it takes a teacher to reach the maximum salary and the share of total career growth that is earned in the first few years of a teacher’s career).
Complete report:
http://www.nctq.org/tr3/conference/docs/tr3_conf_west_and_mykerezi.pdf
West Virginia's Progress Toward Universal Prekindergarten
This report examines rates of participation in West Virginia’s universal, voluntary prekindergarten program from 2002/03 to 2006/07. It describes the share of seats provided by collaborative partners and public school systems and analyzes participation rates by demographic and socioeconomic subgroup and county characteristics.
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/appalachia/pdf/REL_2009070.pdf
Research Featured at American Educational Research Association Conference April 14-18
Teacher turnover in charter schools (Presentation: April 13)
Thomas M. Smith and David Stuit will report their findings that the odds of a charter school teacher leaving the profession or changing schools is over 200 percent greater than the odds of a traditional public school teacher doing so. In part, the higher turnover rates are due to the fact that charter school teachers are, on average, younger and less likely to hold regular teaching certificates. Smith and Stuit found no linkage between higher turnover and charter schools' personnel policies that make it easier to get rid of under-performing teachers. Smith is associate professor of public policy and organizations. Stuit is a doctoral candidate.
More than 50 percent of students with behavior problems have undiagnosed language problems (Presentation: April 14)
Stephen Camarata will discuss his findings that language and behavior disorders often co-exist and that the language disorder is usually moderate to severe, undiagnosed and untreated. The findings are based on Camarata's assessment of 5th and 6th graders with emotional and behavior issues. Camarata is professor of hearing and speech sciences and of special education, and is a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development investigator.
Patterns of racial isolation in Nashville's magnet schools (Presentation: April 14)
Ellen B. Goldring and Claire E. Smrekar will present their findings that magnet schools in Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, which were declared unitary in 1999 after a long history of court-ordered desegregation, have reached their all-time highest levels of racial segregation under unitary status. They also found the socioeconomic status of magnet school students tends to be higher than those in traditional public schools. Their findings of increasing racial isolation for both white students and black students at Nashville magnet schools provide a template for considering the national implications of magnet school policies in the era of post-unitary status. Goldring is professor of education policy and leadership. Smrekar is associate professor of public policy and education.
Recruiting mid-career professionals to teaching (Presentation: April 15)
Marissa Cannata will discuss her research about the efficacy of policies that have attempted to increase the number of males and minorities in teaching and to address the unequal distribution of qualified teachers across schools by recruiting mid-career entrants into teaching. She found both mid-career and first-career teachers applied to schools with similar student characteristics, suggesting that neither group prefers to work with a particular demographic. Cannata also found that while that first-career teachers were more likely than mid-career entrants to receive job offers, mid-career teachers who applied to positions at urban or low-income schools were more likely to receive job offers than first-career applicants who applied to similar positions. This resulted in a greater proportion of mid-career entrants teaching in urban or low-income schools. Cannata is a research associate in the Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations.
Fast food consumption and test scores (Presentation: April 16)
Kerri Tobin will maintain a link exists between consumption fast food, and students' academic performance in school. She has found a negative relationship between 5th graders' reported fast-food consumption patterns and their reading and math test scores, and will discuss possible policy implications and directions for further research. Tobin is a graduate student at Peabody College.
School leadership differences among charter, magnet, private and traditional public schools (Presentation: April 16)
Ellen Goldring will present her research that finds principals in choice schools, both private and public, distributed their leadership and had more authority than principals of traditional public schools. These principals also put more focus on securing resources and marketing than principals of traditional public schools. The emphases on instructional programs appear to be similar among the public school types, with private school principals reporting a slightly higher level of focus on instruction. Goldring is professor education policy and leadership.
Connection between principals’ activities and student performance (Presentation: April 16)
Ellen Goldring and Jason Huff will discuss their findings that principals in lower performing schools devote more time to planning and setting goals and to instruction leadership, and that time spent in these areas is associated with greater increases in student performance. Goldring is professor education policy and leadership. Huff is a doctoral candidate.
Higher Education Parents key to African American students' college success (Presentation date: April 13)
Donna L. Pavlick will present her findings about what influenced her study sample of African American students who successfully obtained bachelor's degrees at predominantly white colleges and universities. The results indicated that these participants attributed their success to the encouragement and support of their parents. The influence of faculty and staff as parental surrogates was a secondary source of encouragement. Pavlick is associate dean for academic programs and registrar at Vanderbilt Law School.
State spending on higher education: Testing the balance wheel over time (Presentation: April 15)
William Doyle will present his findings, based on 44 years of data, that the relationship between higher education funding and all other categories has only recently taken the form of a "balance wheel" for state finance. This popular theory asserts that higher education receives larger cuts in bad times and bigger increases in good times than other budget categories. Doyle is associate professor of public policy.
Undocumented students' success – a case study from Texas (Presentation: April 17)
Stella Flores will present her findings that in Texas, which in 2005 was the first state to pass an in-state resident tuition policy benefiting undocumented students, immigrant students who enrolled as tuition policy beneficiaries are equally likely to persist in college as their U.S. citizen Latino counterparts. Results suggest that the academic promise of these students at a selective public institution is as promising as similar students with U.S. citizenship status. Flores is assistant professor of public policy and higher education.
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