Pre-K Picks

Dear Supporter,

I'm Albert Wat, the state policy analyst at Pre-K Now, and today I bring you the first edition of Pre-K Picks, our new e-mail publication summarizing the latest and greatest resources on pre-kindergarten and early education.

As long-time Pre-K Now subscribers know, the Pre-K Picks have previously been a small section of our monthly Pre-K Post e-newsletter, but no more. The growth of the pre-k movement has been accompanied by an explosion in research and policy resources - more than most can digest and dissect. So, I'm taking on part of the task for you. Every 4-6 weeks, I'll deliver to your inbox a list of fresh picks along with brief summaries highlighting how each is relevant to pre-k supporters like you.

Whether one is an advocate, policymaker, teacher, or parent, it is important to keep up-to-date with reliable research in order to make the right decisions and recommendations. Through our Pre-K Picks, we aim to help you do just that. If you have any feedback on our picks, or would like to suggest a report or article for the next edition, please send me an e-mail at: awat@preknow.org.

Thank you,
Albert Wat
State Policy Analyst
Pre-K Now

P.S. Before we get to the picks, I want to give you a heads-up that our annual publication, "Votes Count," will be released on September 25th. This report covers the legislative action on pre-k in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for FY08, including appropriations and policy developments in pre-k. Look for an e-mail later this month announcing that the report is available for download.

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The Prime Pick The Sandbox Investment: The Preschool Movement and Kids-First Politics In his new book The Sandbox Investment, professor and author David Kirp takes us through different but connected worlds: from the halls of academia to the hustle and bustle between pre-k advocates and policymakers to where the action is - the pre-k classroom. Kirp's book has been hailed as the "first comprehensive portrait" of the pre-k-for-all movement, and inside readers find the story of the movement as well as valuable insights based on the author's years of research, interviews, and journalistic experience. The Sandbox Investment is available for purchase from Amazon.com.

Pick Positions Online summary of more than 20 early childhood education studies Report provides a science-based framework for early childhood policies What Works Clearinghouse adds evaluations of early childhood education curricula The state of early learning standards The impact of early care and education costs on families Fight Crime polls women on their views about pre-k PNC survey of teachers and parents shows the importance of social skills Pre-k and adult health outcomes Evaluation of pre-k in New Mexico reveals positive outcomes Correction: Pre-K Now's "Dollars and Sense" on nationwide pre-k spending

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1. Online summary of more than 20 early childhood education studies

The Public Policy Forum in Wisconsin, a nonpartisan "government watchdog," has created an online chart that summarizes the findings of more than 20 studies of early childhood education. The studies are categorized as longitudinal, meta-analyses, and cross-sectional studies.

Thanks to Jill Haglund of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction for alerting me to this pick!

2. Report provides a science-based framework for early childhood policies

Drawing from neuroscience, behavioral and development science, economics, and program evaluations, the National Forum on Early Childhood Program Evaluation and the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child have produced a report that provides an authoritative review of key findings from decades of early education research and a summary of what we understand about early childhood development. This document should inform policymakers, elected officials, and advocates in their efforts to create effective early childhood programs and systems.

3. What Works Clearinghouse adds evaluations of early childhood education curricula

The What Works Clearinghouse at the U.S. Department of Education has added more reports from their evaluations of various early reading and early math programs, as well as general early childhood education curricula that focus on pre-academic skills. The programs are rated by their effectiveness on six domains: oral language, print knowledge, phonological processing, early reading/writing, cognition, and math.

4. The state of early learning standards

The most recent issue of Early Childhood Research and Practice contains an article surveying the state of early learning standards around the country. It shows that all but one state have established early learning standards for the pre-k years (one is in the process of doing so), and many have either adopted or started work on learning standards for infants and toddlers. Moreover, states are increasingly investing resources in supporting teachers to implement these standards and monitoring programs to make sure they are being used. The article ends with some cautions and considerations. Early learning standards must not be a watered down version of K-12 standards; they need to be developmentally appropriate for the age group. Also, standards will not be effective unless they are coupled with a qualified workforce. Finally, states should continue examining how their early learning standards are aligned with infant-toddler standards, with curricula, and with assessments.

The article contains state-by-state charts that provide information on:

• Stated purpose of early learning standards

• Extent to which standards are aligned with K-12 standards, curricula, assessment

• Extent to which standards guide instruction of English Language Learners and children with disabilities

• Whether pre-k programs are required to use standards

• Whether states have a monitoring system in place

• How states support implementation of standards

• Extent to which states have infant-toddler learning standards in place

5. The impact of early care and education costs on families

As more states continue to expand access to pre-k, more questions about the need to serve middle-income families arise. Beyond the benefits for children in these families, another motivation for expanding access is the economic strain that private pre-k may put on middle-income parents, most of whom are relatively young and are in early phases of their careers. Unfortunately, as of now, there is little research on the cost of private pre-k. However, some data do exist on the cost of child care, and in many cases, center-based pre-k for three and four year olds are included.

A recent paper by two economists from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, entitled "Family Expenditures on Child Care" analyzes Census data from the late 1990s to explore the relationship between child care expenditures and family income.

Even though the data are not the most recent, the findings reveal some interesting patterns related to the affordability of early care and education:

• The average child under age six lives in a family that spends about 5 percent of after-tax income on child care. That may seem low, but that's skewed by the fact that 63 percent of their sample had no child care expenses. In the families whose child care expenditures were in the top 10 percent of the sample, 30 percent of their after-tax income went to child care. (Interestingly, about 40 percent of the families in this group are single-parent families.)

• Among working parents who pay for child care, the child care expenditure as a share of after-tax income is 13 percent.

• The researchers concluded that "average child care hours and expenditure shares are relatively constant" across socio-economic groups. In fact, they found that families with earnings at the top 10 percent in the sample spent the same proportion of their income on child care as families with earnings at the bottom 10 percent.

In addition, a recent report (PDF) from the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) presented 2005 data on the cost of child care, including center-based care and education programs for four year olds. The report also ranks states in terms of the affordability of care by comparing the cost to state median family incomes. California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York are some of the most unaffordable states.

NACCRRA also has an online database that provides the latest state-by-state data on demographics, child care costs, and family income.

Finally, it is important to note that none of the above studies distinguish high-quality center-based programs from those of lower quality. Therefore, the information does not reflect the cost of quality care and education.

6. Fight Crime polls women on their views about pre-k

A recent national poll by Fight Crime: Invest in Kids shows that the cost of child care and pre-k plays an important factor in many women's decision to have children. Twenty-three percent of the 600 women surveyed said that the cost of high-quality child care or pre-k had caused them to "delay starting a family or to delay or decide not to have a second or subsequent child." This finding was particularly strong for: women between the ages of 25-34; those who lived in metropolitan areas; those with household incomes of $50,000 or below; and those from African American and Latino backgrounds. The same poll showed that 60 percent of women polled would be concerned about the cost of child care or pre-k if they were to have a child. For 68 percent of those polled, "child care and early education" is also an important issue in determining which presidential candidate to support.

7. PNC survey of teachers and parents shows the importance of social skills

PNC Financial Services Group conducted a poll showing that teachers, when asked what skills children need to enter kindergarten ready to learn, rated social skills as extremely or very important – more important than academic skills.

The poll also found that, in general, low percentages of teachers believe U.S. children are prepared for school in a number of critical areas.

Below are percentages of teachers polled who said U.S. children are "extremely" or "very well" prepared to be able to:

• Listen and follow rules and directions (8 percent)

• Interact, play and share well with others (13 percent)

• Understand the difference between right and wrong (20 percent)

• Recognize common words or signs like "walk," "stop," and their own names (10 percent)

• Recognize numbers, count, and do simple math (10 percent)

• Read and write the letters of the alphabet (8 percent)

8. Pre-k and adult health outcomes

An article published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine discusses the latest findings from the Chicago Child-Parent Center longitudinal study. Results from the 19-year follow-up continue to show that participants, who are now 24 years of age, are more likely to complete high school and attend four-year colleges, and less likely to be arrested or incarcerated. The results also show that participants are more likely to have health insurance and less likely to show depressive symptoms.

Related to the last point, a recent article (PDF) in Child Development shows that, at 21 years of age, participants in the Carolina Abecedarian Project also reported fewer symptoms of depression than the control group.

9. Evaluation of pre-k in New Mexico reveals positive outcomes

A recent evaluation of the New Mexico Pre-K Initiative by the National Institute for Early Education Research found that pre-k participants made significantly higher gains in their vocabulary, pre-math skills, and understanding of print concepts than the comparison group. The sample included children who were served in public schools as well as community-based settings. It also included significant proportions of Latino children (56 percent), Native American children (28 percent), and white children (10 percent).

10. Correction: Pre-K Now's "Dollars and Sense" on nationwide pre-k spending

We recently discovered an incorrect statistic in the introduction of our May 2007 publication, "Dollars and Sense: A Review of Economic Analyses of Pre-K" (PDF). Due to a fact-checking error, we wrote that "state spending on pre-k increased from $2.4 billion to $4.2 billion nationwide between 2005 and 2007." The correct information is that the increase - equal to 75 percent - occurred over a period of five years, from FY02 to FY07. We regret the error and have posted a revised version of the report on our website. New data from the states also allowed us to revise our nationwide spending figure for FY05 upward to $2.9 billion, meaning pre-k funding increased by 45 percent from FY05 ($2.9 billion) to FY07 ($4.2 billion).