Pre-K Picks

Dear Supporter,

In this issue of the Pre-K Picks you'll find resources to tackle questions like: How do states finance their pre-kindergarten programs? What benefits and outcomes have been found in the latest evaluations of state-funded pre-k? And how well are pre-k programs teaching math to young children?

Delving further into pre-k finance, I'll feature a report by the Institute for Women's Policy Research next month that helps policymakers and advocates estimate the cost of implementing high-quality pre-k. The report estimates the costs of making improvements to three pre-k quality factors: teacher education and pay; class size; and, the length of the program day.

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

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The Prime Pick "Funding the Future" Policymakers looking for advice and innovative ideas on how to finance their pre-k programs can turn to Pre-K Now's latest report, "Funding the Future: States' Approaches to Pre-K Finance" (PDF), which shows how states fund pre-k and analyzes the pros and cons of different funding strategies. Researched and written by Diana Stone of Washington Appleseed, "Funding the Future" highlights interesting trends that have emerged since the first publication of this report in 2006. The report describes how states have used the school funding formula to support expanding pre-k enrollment and public-private partnerships to start promising pilot programs. Also included are an overview of federal funding streams that can be tapped to supplement states' pre-k efforts and a feature on two cities that have made pre-k for all a local goal.

Pick Positions Debate on pre-k teacher education continues Young children's math potential untapped in pre-k classrooms A promising instrument for early childhood mental health screening Evaluation of five state pre-k programs demonstrates increase in school readiness Efforts to guide creation of early childhood advisory councils Child Trends compiles information on instruments that measure quality of early childhood settings KIDS COUNT now offers city data Brief offers advice on using quasi-experimental evaluations Quality Counts

This map shows sources of funding of state pre-k programs, with lighter orange states using general revenues, darker orange states distributing general revenues through the school funding formula, gray states using no general revenues, and white state having no state program. For a detailed legend, download a copy (PDF) of "Funding the Future."

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1. Debate on pre-k teacher education continues

Early Childhood Research Quarterly dedicates its first issue of the year to the latest in pre-k research including:

• the quality of language and literacy instruction;

• the impact of transition practices into kindergarten;

• successful behavioral management training; and

• predictors of children's engagement in pre-k classrooms.

The debate continues regarding the relationship between teacher education levels and child outcomes in pre-k programs. A study by researchers from UCLA, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Virginia examined 2,800 children from 700 randomly selected state-funded pre-k classrooms in 11 states. They found that participation in the state programs was associated with gains in literacy, language, math, and social skills regardless of a child's economic status or racial background. Cognitive gains were associated with the quality of the relationships and interactions between teachers and students, as measured by teacher self-reports and an observational instrument. But, these gains were not associated with structural quality variables such as teacher education levels, adult-child ratio, and the length of the program day.

A number of factors limit the conclusions we can draw from this study's findings. First, more than 90 percent of the classrooms in the sample only met "minimal quality" or below on the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale. Second, on average, only five months elapsed between the initial and final assessments of children's skills. More time between assessments may have revealed higher gains by children. Third, more than 70 percent of the teachers in the sample had at least a bachelor's degree. When a large majority of the teachers in the sample have the same level of education, as in this case, it can be difficult to measure the extent to which teacher education influences children's outcomes. Finally, the researchers considered programs providing as few as 20 hours of services per week as "full-day" programs and found that cognitive gains were not associated with the length of the program day. However, this threshold may be too low to be associated with significant gains.

Nevertheless, as some of the study's researchers state in a commentary in the same issue, their work questions the wisdom of focusing narrowly on the importance of a bachelor's degree in pre-k teachers and the need to advocate for high-quality professional development and teacher-education programs. Of course, while the dialogue among researchers on this issue continues, one can cite other benefits of having pre-k teachers with higher educational attainment, such as a better compensated, and thus, more stable workforce - whose impact on children cannot be ignored.

2. Young children's math potential untapped in pre-k classrooms

A recent Social Policy Report (PDF) from the Society for Research in Child Development finds that, although young children have an innate interest in and potential to grasp both concrete and abstract mathematical concepts, teacher practices tend to focus on the most basic aspects of math education such as counting and learning the names of common shapes.

The report outlines six essential components of early childhood math education (ECME):

• an environment with adequate and appropriate objects and materials;

• an adept use of play;

• the ability to exploit teachable moments;

• well-designed and guided projects;

• a well thought out curriculum; and

• deliberate and intentional instruction.

The researchers find the current state of pre-k math education lacking and attribute the disconnect between children's potential and teachers' practice to two factors: a dearth of math education courses in teacher preparation programs; and teachers' belief that math is not as important as other skills. To improve ECME, nine recommendations are made in the areas of teacher preparation, ongoing professional development, curriculum, research, assessment, and evaluation.

3. A promising instrument for early childhood mental health screening

Young children with behavioral and emotional challenges often struggle in pre-k programs and benefit from early intervention, according to many studies. A recent issue of FPG Snapshot (PDF) from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute describes a new early childhood mental health screening instrument called ABLE, which provides teachers and parents a simple and inexpensive way to identify children who may benefit from more specialized attention.

The screening has two parts. The first probes parents and teachers on their assessments of children's ability to self-regulate their attention, behavior, language, and emotions. If parents' or teachers' concerns are severe enough, the second part of the screening helps both groups articulate the need for intervention.

Studies of ABLE have shown that social workers and behavioral health consultants overwhelmingly agree with the assessments of teachers and parents who use the instrument and that the identification of behavioral and emotional problems is correlated with lower academic performance. Notably, ABLE did not disproportionately identify children of color as needing more intervention, a major concern within the special education field.

4. Evaluation of five state pre-k programs demonstrates increase in school readiness

Researchers at the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) recently published their study of five state pre-k programs (Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and West Virginia), showing that these programs had positive impact on children's development in vocabulary, letter-sound identification, and early math skills.

Across the five states, the most consistent and statistically significant improvement was in letter-sound identification, with the Michigan and New Jersey programs showing significant effects on math and the New Jersey and Oklahoma programs showing significant effects on vocabulary.

These findings are important for several reasons. First, even though the researchers did not use a randomized experimental design that would have permitted them to make causal conclusions about pre-k, they used a methodology that eliminated self-selection bias (the possibility that the positive impacts were a result of parental characteristics that are correlated with pre-k enrollment rather than the programs themselves). Second, the study demonstrates that high-quality, large-scale, publicly run programs which, in some cases, serve diverse populations can produce results similar to smaller, demonstration projects which serve more homogenous groups of children.

One of the main questions left unanswered by the study is why pre-k's impact on children ranged widely from state to state. The researchers did not find clear relationships between the size of the effects and the per-child spending level or the length of the program day. To investigate this question, researchers would likely have to look deeper into how the classrooms in these programs differ and whether these states differ in terms of the quality and availability of alternative early childhood services for children in the comparison group who did not participate in pre-k.

5. Efforts to guide creation of early childhood advisory councils

The recent Head Start reauthorization required states to create advisory councils on early childhood education with the goal of better serving children from birth to age five through increased collaboration and coordination among programs and agencies. The National Governors Association (NGA) recently conducted a survey (PDF) to find out which states already have early childhood advisory councils and what these existing councils are doing.

Of the 36 states that responded to the NGA survey, 31 reported that an early childhood advisory council exists in their state. Most were created by the state legislature and report to the governor's office. The most common council members are:

• state administrators for child care, health care, and/or pre-k programs;

• representatives from the state's network of child care resource and referral agencies; and

• professional development organizations.

Most were either not funded or had funding of $500,000 or less - mostly from general funds or in the form of in-kind support (e.g., staff time, meeting space). The most common activities undertaken by the councils include designing statewide professional development plans, facilitating articulation agreements between two-year and four-year colleges, and assessing the availability of pre-k and child care.

In another effort, the Forum for Youth Investment has put forth a "change model" (PDF) to help states get the most out of their "children's cabinets." It contains recommendations on where to house the cabinets, what authority and the scope of goals they should have, how they should measure progress in the state, and how they should support and learn from local efforts. The forum has also compiled a directory of state children's cabinets (PDF) and, in the coming year, plans on releasing four in-depth briefs on best practices in creating these groups.

6. Child Trends compiles information on instruments that measure quality of early childhood settings

Program evaluation is a critical component of any pre-k program, but good data can only come from sound measures. Child Trends has published a compendium of measures (PDF) that provides an overview of instruments that assess the quality of early childhood education settings.

Researchers created fact sheets for more than 30 measures with key information such as cost and the time needed to administer each. A number of charts also allow the reader to make comparisons among the measures based on:

• the ages of children and program settings they are designed for;

• the primary purpose of the instrument (e.g., monitoring vs. evaluation);

• the intended user; and

• the data collection methods (e.g., observation, interview, survey).

7. KIDS COUNT now offers city data

The Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT online database has expanded its scope to include data on the 50 largest cities in the U.S.

Users can create and compare profiles of state, county, and city data on a number of topics including:

• children in immigrant families;

• education;

• health outcomes;

• health insurance;

• family characteristics; and

• poverty.

The site can also generate graphs, charts, maps, and trend lines that track data over time.

8. Brief offers advice on using quasi-experimental evaluations

Experimental studies that use randomized designs are ideal for program evaluations because they are the only type of studies that can make conclusions about what impact the program caused. However, this methodology is not always feasible and, as a result, researchers may have to resort to quasi-experimental evaluations.

A policy brief (PDF) from Child Trends discusses what information quasi-experimental evaluations can produce, when it is appropriate to use this approach, the different types of quasi-experimental evaluations, and potential problems in using this methodology.

9. Quality Counts

Education Week recently released its annual "Quality Counts" report.

Early childhood policymakers, practitioners, and advocates may be especially interested in its "Transition and Alignment" report (PDF), which ranks states' efforts to align all parts of their education system - from pre-k through post-secondary education - and help children transition from one stage of their education to the next.

New York, Tennessee, Maryland, and West Virginia are among the highest ranked states on the "Transitions and Alignment" criteria. The report also identified a number of components of early childhood education that facilitate alignment with the larger education system. They are:

• linking early learning standards and kindergarten learning expectations with K-12 learning standards;

• having a definition of "school readiness;"

• requiring school districts to assess the readiness of entering students; and

• providing support and services for children deemed not ready for school.

According to Education Week, only five states have all of these components in place: Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and Ohio.