I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't gotten a press release from The Education Trust in a while.
The Education Trust is a pro-NCLB organization that makes what I think are fair and honest judgments about what is necessary to make NCLB work.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 02-19-04
Contact: Don Owens
Cell: 202-302-5928
Ofc: 202-293-1245 x231
TRUST FOR EARLY EDUCATION'S AMY WILKINS' STATEMENT ON NIEER PRE-K SCHOOL READINESS REPORT
Nation's Failure to Invest in Quality Pre-Kindergarten Tied Directly to School Readiness
(Washington, DC) - Amy Wilkins, executive director of the Trust for Early Education, released the following statement regarding the National Institute for Early Education Research's report on pre-kindergarten:
"The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has made a significant contribution to public policy discussion with its report, "The State of Preschools; 2003 State Preschool Yearbook." NIEER's Yearbook shows, state by state, that too few children in the United States have access to pre-kindergarten and those that do are getting too little in the way of high quality pre-kindergarten programs.
"The most recent data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), indicates that 70% of 4th graders nationwide have not reached a proficient level in reading and 69% are below the proficient level in mathematics. Years of research on how children learn demonstrate conclusively that the most effective way to raise these scores is to both reach children before they enter kindergarten and provide effective instruction in the early grades. The school readiness problem has a direct bearing on the low academic achievement levels that continue to plague K-12. If we are serious about boosting K-12 achievement we must invest, at both the state and federal levels, in high quality pre-kindergarten as well as improve instruction in our public schools.
"The early years are a critical time for the acquisition of cognitive, social, and emotional skills needed for later academic success. Yet, as the NIEER report so vividly points out, state funded pre-kindergarten programs reach less than 15% of the nation's children. Even when Head Start is added in, public programs still reach fewer than half of the nation's three and four year olds. Currently, the vast majority of public programs serve only the poorest children, despite the fact that the school readiness problem affects children of all backgrounds. Over one half of the children who enter kindergarten not knowing the alphabet are middle class or higher.
"While the reach of these programs is limited, their quality may ultimately be the greater issue. Children who enter kindergarten with a strong foundation of learning skills are much more likely to do well. NIEER finds that none of the programs reviewed for the report met all ten of the Institute's "quality benchmarks". Study after study makes clear that teacher quality is the critical factor in overall program quality; 4 year college degrees are equally important for pre-kindergarten teachers who teach 3 and 4 year olds as for the kindergarten teachers with their 5 year old brothers and sisters. Yet only eighteen states require that their pre-kindergarten teachers to hold bachelor's college degrees.
"This report also makes the case for carefully initiating coordination between Head Start and state funded pre-kindergarten programs. Nearly half a million of the nation's most vulnerable children will continue to be poorly served unless the federal government acts to improve the quality of the state funded programs. We believe that the most immediate opportunity for the federal government to support state pre-kindergarten programs and address the school readiness problem is to develop and adequately fund a handful of carefully constructed federal/state Head Start partnerships specifically designed to build on the strengths of Head Start and the state's pre-kindergarten program. We continue to urge the House, Senate, and White House to include language -- beyond that contained in any of the proposals we have seen thus far -- in the final Head Start bill that will address this important issue.
Simply continuing the Head Start status quo will do nothing to improve services to children enrolled in either Head Start or the state funded pre-kindergarten programs. The federal government must also begin to consider how its other investments in child care and education can be used to leverage increased state investment and improvements in state policy to better serve children and address the nation's school readiness issue."
The Trust for Early Education (TEE) was created as part of The Pew Charitable Trusts' initiative to advance high quality pre-kindergarten for all of the nation's three- and four-year-olds through objective, policy-focused research in conjunction with state public education campaigns and national outreach. TEE was established by The Education Trust with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts and other funders. TEE appreciates the continued support from: The Foundation for Child Development, The McCormick Tribune Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Schumann Fund for New Jersey and The W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
Posted by P6 at February 19, 2004 10:07 AM
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