Early learning has few detractors, but publicly supported pre-kindergarten has many. Among the worried are early care and education providers themselves. Private-for-profit and non-profit centers, faith-based programs, family child care homes, and Head Start fear losing their four-year-olds to “free” pre-K programs in public schools.
That’s why many states let private providers help operate pre-K programs. Private providers serve most children in Georgia’s universal preschool program and Florida’s Voluntary Prekindergarten Program. In New Jersey’s Abbott Preschool Program, available to all three- and four-year-olds in the state’s poorest school districts, private centers and Head Start agencies contract with local school boards to serve two-thirds of the children.
Many early care and education advocates have a different objection—that pre-K will be staffed by public school teachers with no background in early childhood. But a recent AIR study of a publicly supported transitional kindergarten program serving 4-year-olds in California (http://bit.ly/1j6Q0uA) found that 95 percent of the teachers had previously taught preschool, kindergarten, or first grade. Two-thirds had training in social and emotional development, though many wanted more.
Some early education advocates also worry that most publicly supported preschool programs operate too few hours a day, putting working parents in a bind. AIR’s study found that more than half of the school districts offer full school-day Transitional Kindergarten programs, though fewer large districts do. New Jersey’s Abbott Preschool Program—which also offers wraparound services—and Georgia’s are open at least six hours a day 180 days per year. Given proper standards and funding, quality pre-K programs can be provided in a variety of settings. And careful planning can help states defuse some of the opposition to pre-K and better meet the needs of young children and their families.
This blog is a response to Who Opposes Early Learning by the National Journal.