Republicans and Democrats may be more bitterly divided than ever, but there are plenty of ways they can find common ground on education. By combining ideas embraced by both parties -- Democratic calls for more spending on early childhood education, and Republican emphasis on scientifically based reading instruction in existing preschool programs -- Congress and the president have the opportunity to enact new preschool programs that could both renew the spirit of innovation and bipartisanship on education policy issues, and help meet the laudable goals of No Child Left Behind.
As schools work to bring all students to proficiency, it's abundantly clear that children come to school with very different levels of preparation to learn. Poor and minority students who are on the low end of the achievement gap also enter school lagging behind their peers. Researchers, like UCLA's Meredith Phillips, estimate that roughly half of the enormous academic achievement gap between black and white students in the United States exists before first grade.
To address these disparities policymakers and educators must work to level the playing field before children begin school. Research clearly shows that high-quality preschool focused on building children's language and early learning skills can help compensate for the learning opportunities too many poor children miss at home.
Yet the children who most need high-quality preschool, those from disadvantaged families, are the least likely to get it. About two-thirds of non-poor children attend preschool, but less than half of poor children do -- even factoring in programs like Head Start created especially for them. Further, many preschools available to poor children don't come near the standard needed to overcome learning deficits.
So it seems curious that the sound and fury over No Child Left Behind brings little attention to one seemingly obvious response: ensuring all children, regardless of income, have a chance to benefit from preschool programs that help close learning gaps.
In fact, to the contrary, states that invested in early childhood during the flush 1990's are cutting back as budgets tighten. Despite some outstanding state efforts, for instance in Oklahoma and Georgia, overall the picture is bleak.
Improving early childhood education is going to require leadership -- and funding -- from Washington. By providing states the funds to expand public preschool programs, while also demanding that such programs meet high, scientifically based, standards of early education quality, the federal government could lay the critical groundwork to ensure that all children enter school prepared to succeed.
What are the key elements of effective preschool programs?
- First, quality preschool focuses on school readiness, not just childcare. Successful preschool programs, such as Chicago's Child Parent Centers and Georgia's Universal Pre-K, have a planned, structured curriculum of activities designed to prepare children for school by developing their language abilities and introducing them to early math, reading, and other academic concepts.
- Second, helping preschoolers learn these skills demands qualified teachers with strong verbal skills, general knowledge, and an understanding of how young children develop and learn. Research shows that the most effective preschool teachers have at least a bachelor's degree.
- Third, smaller class sizes and lower teacher/student ratios are more conducive to nurturing, one-on-one interactions that help preschoolers learn, and yield better results for children. The National Association for the Education of Young Children recommends a maximum class size of 20 children in preschool with at least one teacher and one aide.
- Finally, successful preschools have adequate resources to offer safe, healthy environments and a supply of the books, toys, and other supplies that enable children to pursue, and teachers to plan, a wide variety of activities that develop emerging abilities. One critical resource is teacher pay. Despite research showing how important teacher quality is in preschool, preschool teachers salaries in average hover near or below $20,000, far from enough to keep qualified teachers.
To ensure that every four year old, regardless of family income, has access to a program with these characteristics would cost the nation $9.2 billion annually. While that's a lot of money, it's important to remember that these programs also save taxpayers money by reducing grade retention, special education placements, teen pregnancy, welfare participation, and crime rates among participants later in life. And, the federal government doesn't need to carry the full cost: but federal funds can help to forge a new bargain between parents, states, and the federal government to support early learning and help children whose parents cannot afford to pay for preschool.
We know what works in preschool, but as long as Republicans and Democrats continue debating only impossibly broad childcare initiatives or minor tweaks to the existing system, millions of children will enter school without the preparation needed to succeed. Expanding access to high-quality preschool programs is a tall order, but given the positive impact of preschool programs, it's an imperative, particularly for disadvantaged kids who are being left behind today.
