Pre-K Picks

Dear Supporter,

January's Pre-K Picks will help you start the new year - and new legislative sessions - off right. In this edition, you can find the latest research and resources on serving immigrant communities, professional development, reducing expulsions in pre-k programs, implementing pre-k in child care centers, plus a whole lot more.

Next month, watch for the release of "Funding the Future," a Pre-K Now report we have updated to reflect the latest trends in states' pre-k finance strategies. Among the new features is advice on the use of school funding formulas and public-private partnerships to support state pre-k programs.

Warm regards,
Albert Wat
State Policy Analyst
Pre-K Now
E-mail me a pick recommendation

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The Prime Pick Policies That Help Reduce Expulsion Rates in Pre-K In a new policy brief, Dr. Walter Gilliam of Yale University further analyzes data from his 2005 study on state pre-k expulsion rates to identify the program characteristics associated with higher expulsion rates and the policies that can lead to lower expulsion rates. Dr. Gilliam's original study found that, nationally, the average pre-k expulsion rate was three times higher than the rate of K-12 expulsions. He also documented that children who are African-American, male, or attending programs in non-public settings are more likely to be expelled from pre-k. In this follow-up brief, Dr. Gilliam notes that having more children per teacher, longer class days, and teachers with higher stress levels are associated with greater expulsion rates. The study does not conclude that any of these factors cause expulsion, and their relationship with expulsion rates may be influenced by other factors such as teacher training, quality of the curriculum, and amount of teacher support. Rather than expelling children, the brief recommends better supports for teachers, including more access to early childhood mental health consultants. Dr. Gilliam also recommends larger investments in data collection on pre-k expulsion and in research on how family involvement, teacher training, and programs supporting children with special needs before the pre-k years can help reduce expulsions.

Pick Positions Helpful resources on serving children with special needs Implementing pre-k in child care centers: benefits, challenges, and best practices A compilation of the latest finding from top early education researchers CLASP hosts conference on serving immigrant communities Using NAEYC standards to improve quality Costing out a high-quality pre-k program in New Jersey New books on workforce and professional development Good advice from 20 nations' early education systems

This chart from "Implementing Policies to Reduce the Likelihood of Preschool Expulsion" shows that teachers working in classrooms with better teacher:child ratios are less likely to have expelled a child from pre-k.

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1. Helpful resources on serving children with special needs

Dr. Walter Gilliam's brief on expulsions in pre-k highlights the importance of creating inclusive pre-k programs and classrooms that serve the needs of all. States and providers looking for resources to help early childhood teachers meet the challenges of inclusion can turn to two excellent resources.

First, the National Technical Assistance Center for Children's Mental Health at Georgetown University just created a toolkit that summarizes the research behind early childhood mental health consultation programs, key features of such services, guidelines for designing evaluations, and using the data for program improvement.

Second, the National Professional Development Center on Inclusion at the FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina offers technical assistance for states that are committed to inclusion in early childhood settings and the professional development necessary to honor that commitment. Applicants should be a team of state agency leaders, higher education faculty, early childhood organizations, and/or families. Interested parties should go to the FPG website for more information.

2. Implementing pre-k in child care centers: benefits, challenges, and best practices

While the delivery of pre-k services through a diverse array of providers can benefit children, families, providers, and schools alike, making such a delivery model work requires much planning and a systemic perspective that looks out for both the intended and unintended consequences of collaboration.

A recent report (PDF) from the National Women's Law Center examines the benefits and challenges for child care centers implementing state pre-k programs and identifies best practices that make these partnerships successful. Based a series of interviews and discussions with center directors operating pre-k programs in 14 states, the report considers the key policies when implementing pre-k in child care centers: financing mechanisms and funding levels; teacher qualifications and compensation; identifying appropriate curricula and assessments; and collaborating with school districts around all of the above policies.

3. A compilation of the latest findings from top early education researchers

The Early Childhood Research Collaborative (ECRC), sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota Center for Early Education and Development, organized a conference last month to present the latest research on early childhood programs, from prenatal development to the early school years. The presentations took a variety of angles: from benefits to children and families, to cost-effectiveness, to going from demonstration projects to broad-scale implementation.

Programs reviewed include Women, Infants and Children (WIC); the Nurse Family Partnership; the Abecedarian Project; Head Start and Early Head Start; High/Scope Perry Preschool; the Chicago Child-Parent Center; the Tulsa pre-k program; the Michigan School Readiness Program; the Abbott Preschool Program; and the MyTeachingPartner online professional development program. Papers and presentations are available on the ECRC website.

4. CLASP hosts conference on serving immigrant communities

Last month, in Chicago, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) hosted the Breaking Down Barriers National Summit to explore promising policies that improve immigrant families' access to quality early care and education.

Leaders and experts from the local, state, and national levels came together to discuss the changing demographics of the nation, outreach strategies shown to be effective for immigrant families, professional development needs of the existing early childhood field, and workforce development practices that increase the pool of multilingual and culturally competent staff. The presentations dealt not only with Latino populations, but also Hmong, Haitian, and Chinese immigrants.

CLASP also produced a state policy checklist (PDF) and a brief (PDF) on promising state and local policies to help policymakers, advocates, and practitioners create more effective early care and education programs for immigrant communities.

5. Using NAEYC standards to improve quality

States seeking to help early care and education (ECE) providers across different settings attain research-based, high quality standards will find this recent public policy report (PDF) from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) helpful.

The report looks at how policymakers can promote widespread implementation of quality standards among ECE providers by linking the NAEYC accreditation standards and process to their state's pre-k programs and quality rating system (QRS). For instance, in some states eligibility for state pre-k funds is linked to accreditation by NAEYC or other similar entities. Other states go a bit further and offer improvement and technical assistance grants to providers participating in the state's QRS. These grants can be used to raise program quality and/or help programs seek accreditation.

6. Costing out a high-quality pre-k program in New Jersey

The Abbott Preschool Program in New Jersey is one of the most respected and proven state pre-k programs in the country, meeting nine of the 10 quality benchmarks from the National Institute of Early Education Research (NIEER) and demonstrating benefits for teachers and children in recent evaluations. Earlier this month, the state legislature approved, and the governor signed, a school funding reform bill that includes a major expansion of Abbott-quality pre-k in every district across the state. The estimated per-child cost is more than $11,000 for school-based programs and almost $13,000 for center-based programs.

This legislation comes on the heels of a New Jersey study (PDF) that found the average per-child cost of quality pre-k in school-based settings ranges from about $11,500 to $12,000, depending on the location of the district, while the per-child cost in center-based settings ranges from about $13,400 to almost $14,000. (The researchers point out that the cost of living in New Jersey is about 25 percent higher than national average.)

Instead of estimating the cost by building a hypothetical program, the researchers collected empirical cost and quality data from existing pre-k classrooms in New Jersey and determined the funding increase necessary to improve quality in two ways: hire and retain more experienced teachers and increase the quality of the classroom environment, as measured by the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale.

A summary of evaluations on Abbott Preschool and the cost study can be found in a policy brief from the Education Law Center.

7. New books on workforce and professional development

Building a high-quality pre-k teacher workforce is a serious task and complex enough to fill many books. Here are two valuable additions for your bookshelf on this critical topic.

The Early Care and Education Teaching Workforce at the Fulcrum, by Sharon Lynn Kagan, Kristie Kauerz, and Kate Tarrant, takes stock of the current early care and education workforce, synthesizes the latest research on teacher quality and effectiveness, and analyzes change efforts that are targeted in their approach and impact as well as those that take a more systemic perspective.

Practical Approaches to Early Childhood Professional Development, edited by Pamela Winton, Camille Catlett, and Jeanette McCollum, compiles practical recommendations from early care and education leaders on how to create professional development experiences that are more engaging, interactive, collaborative, and hands-on. The book includes a CD-ROM with additional resources, such as pre-service and in-service training activities.

8. Good advice from 20 nations' early education systems

Based on a review (PDF) of early care and education systems in 20 countries including the United States, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development found a number of guiding principles for successful policy, including:

• A vision for a system (including services, regulation, financing, and governance) that begins at birth;

• A "strong and equal" partnership with the education system;

• Providing access to all children;

• Enabling families and parents to play the primary role in raising and educating children (e.g., through adequate parental leave policies and parent-involvement and education practices);

• A strong role for government in investment and quality assurance, rather than relying on a purely market approach; and

• A broad definition of learning that goes beyond academic knowledge and skills and embraces creativity and social development.