Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Is pre-school a magic pill

Pre-school is the focus of much debate at the national and state level. Shikha Dalmia And Lisa Snell of the Reason Foundation (Libertarian non-profit) penned this column questioning the usefulness of pre-school education in the Wall Street Journal:

"President Obama has announced a cure for the country's social ills: universal preschool. It would help children "read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own," and also reduce teen pregnancy and violent crime, he said in his State of Union address. As evidence for these remarkable claims he pointed to Oklahoma and Georgia, the early adopters of universal preschool. But the real evidence from those states suggests that preschool doesn't deliver on even its most basic promises.

Oklahoma implemented its program in 1998 and is the pet of universal preschool activists because it's a red state that has diligently applied their playbook. It spends about $8,000 per preschooler, about the same as on K-12. Its teachers are credentialed, well-paid, abundant (one per 10 children) and use a professionally designed curriculum. Georgia expanded a pre-K program for high-risk children to all 4-year-olds in 1995.

Both programs are voluntary and involve the private sector. Oklahoma pays churches and other community providers for the children they enroll. Georgia effectively hands parents a $4,500 voucher for a qualified preschool. Both states have participation rates well above the 47% national preschool average, and Oklahoma's 75% enrollment rate is the highest in the country.

Yet neither state program has demonstrated major social benefits. The first batch of children who attended preschool in Georgia, in 1995, are now turning 22, so Mr. Obama's claim that they are better at "holding jobs" and "forming stable families" can't be true.

But what about, say, teenage girls staying out of trouble? Teen birth rates have declined in the past 10 years in Georgia and Oklahoma (as they have nationwide), but both states remain far above the national average. In 2005, Georgia had the eighth-highest teen-birth rate and Oklahoma the seventh-highest, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Now Georgia has the 13th-highest, Oklahoma the fifth-highest. Many states without universal preschool have a far better record.

Preschool activists counter that this disregards shifting demographics and loosening sexual mores. They also claim there might be "sleeper effects" of preschool that don't show up in studies. But the logic of universal preschool is that social pathologies such as teen births can be addressed by positioning children for success in school. And there is little evidence that this is true.

Consider graduation rates: Oklahoma has lost ground and Georgia is stagnant. Oklahoma ranked 24th in 1998 but 25th when its first batch of universal-preschool children graduated last year, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics compiled by the United Health Foundation. Georgia's high-school graduation rate was 46th from the top in 1995. It dipped to 47th in 2009, the year its first batch graduated, before rising to 45th in 2012.

The preschool case also isn't helped by scores from the National Assessment for Educational Progress—the national report card. The average NAEP reading score for Oklahoma fourth-graders dropped four points between 1998 and 2011—although it went up nine points for Georgia. Yet none of the three states with fully realized universal pre-K (Florida, which began its program in 2005, is the third) was among the top-10 highest scorers on the NAEP reading test in 2011. Oklahoma remains below the national average and Georgia has just reached the national average.

As for black students, fourth-grade math and reading NAEP scores in Georgia and Oklahoma were above the national average of black students in other states when Georgia and Oklahoma embraced universal preschool. Now the scores are at the national average. Only Florida was among the top-10 scorers in reading for disadvantaged children in 2011.

More revealing, the NAEP reading gap between black and white children in Oklahoma was 22 points in 1992. In 2011, it was also 22 points. Georgia had a 28-point spread in 1992. In 2011? Twenty-three points. NAEP called Georgia's results "not significantly different."

William Gormley of Georgetown University and other preschool activists dismiss the ho-hum academic progress of Oklahoma and Georgia on the grounds that building effective programs takes time. But consider Mr. Gormley's most recent studies of Tulsa's "early cohort" children who participated in pre-K in 2000-01 and "late cohort" children who participated in 2005-06, released by Georgetown's Center for Research on Children in the U.S. He found that the initial reading and math gains of the early cohort had completely vanished by third grade. This is consistent with studies of Head Start programs, but he attributed it to the infancy of Tulsa's program.

What about late-cohort children? The reading gains for all subgroups—girls, boys and minorities—also evaporated by third grade, but this finding was buried in Mr. Gormley's fine print. The only lasting gain among the late cohort was in the math ability of boys, which the study trumpets.

The math improvement among third-graders who had been to preschool—combined with the initial (though transitory) gains of pre-K in making children "school ready"—is enough of a fig leaf for advocates to declare that universal pre-K "works" and is a "good return on investment." A more realistic report card for the two states:

Lowering teen births: Oklahoma, Fail; Georgia, C.

Raising graduation rates: Oklahoma, Fail; Georgia, Fail.

Raising fourth-grade NAEP reading scores: Oklahoma, Fail; Georgia, C.

Closing the minority achievement gap: Oklahoma, Fail; Georgia, C.

That Mr. Obama wants to foist these programs on the rest of the country says something about the reading and math proficiency of his administration.


Kingfish note: I will disagree with this column to some degree. While pre-school may not be the silver bullet the President claims it is, there is a problem due in no small part to the high unwed birthrate in Mississippi of kids coming to school not knowing colors, days of the week, numbers, and in some cases, even their own names. It can make a huge difference when several children in the class are so ignorant while the rest of the class is ready to move on regular education.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Preschool, ages 3-4, is not necessary, and is mostly a daycare plus some learning. These kids have an extremely short attention span. Let the kids be kids for at least 4 years. Kindergarten is soon enough.

Anonymous said...

There was significant research done by Cornell University years ago claiming (proving) "better late than early."

Exploring Rabbit Trails said...

Pre-school is nothing but yet another liberal social experiment dreamed up by lifelong matriculators who hope to someday have their names referenced in the bibliography, index or notes of another rarely-read-journal of failed government intrusion.

Oh, but wait, but wait, they exclaim. "Studies Show".... Right.

What studies show is actually that children need four to five years for their parents to expose them to socialization, and to play, and romp, and bust their knees and skin their elbows and catch a turtle and explore their own backyards. And if they're lucky, take a dump in the woods and learn to fish by age 5, and pick up stuff to save in a cigar box. And for as long as possible to stay the hell away from forced government experiments and parental substitution. To hell with teaching a four year old to color inside the lines. Show him the value of pulling his uncle's finger.

Anonymous said...

Aren't we lucky to have Oklahoma as the model for legislation proposing Mississippi invest $tate fund$ in a collaborative pre-K program? Wonder if it will be as effective as our failed replication of the Oklahoma model for a quality rating system (QRS).

Dig deeper, Kingfish.



someoneinnorthms said...

Nothing better than letting the government raise your kids. How long will this progression take until we can identify the Alphas from the Gamma minuses? Separate 'em out by their ultimate destiny and such.

How 'bout we just reduce our tax load by one-half and let one parent stay home and be the parent? Let's try that for awhile, how 'bout it?

Anonymous said...

Will only work if pre-school starts at conception. And may still be worthless if the fetuses and infants are allowed to go home at 3.

Anonymous said...

"How 'bout we just reduce our tax load by one-half and let one parent stay home and be the parent? Let's try that for awhile, how 'bout it?"

Uh, you are aware we are mainly talking about "families" with one one parent, TOTAL, aren't you?

Anonymous said...

Single parent (momma) homes need free daycare. That is what pre-school is all about. Too bad and sad. No wonder these kids do not know their names. Have you heard their names lately? How do they spell these crazy names?

Anonymous said...

The point is that they have to be yanked out of those crappy households where they are exposed to five words all day, no books, a daddy who is the drug dealer your mother is currently shacked up with, generations of adults who've never worked for a living and think getting pregnant at 12 is fine.

Anonymous said...

Pre-school is not a magic pill, just like charter schools are not a magic pill. However, there are academic benefits to students starting in pre-k3. If that were not the case, you wouldn't have so many parents with their children enrolled in pre-k3 in private schools. In the metro Jackson area, you have pre-k3 students learning Spanish and sign language.

Anonymous said...

@10:50 None of the parents I know have their children in private school preK programs for the "academic benefits" - unless that's what you call being certain their kids will have a spot in the school's Kindergarten.

Timmy said...

March 12, 2013 at 2:17 PM"

In this ever so modern world I have to ask you if you are raising a rock?

Anonymous said...

@8:36; where do you get the notion that the preK initiative is all about single parent households? If you're admitting to THAT, then THERE we have our answer. It's nothing but daycare for the so-called disadvantaged. Thanks you for that admission.

~Cradle to Grave~

Pugnacious said...

Memmonite comunities in Mississippi continue to write the book on pre-school education, with "institutional" education ending at the SEVENTH grade. Sadly, that newly built $14,000,000Noxubee County HS--financed by heavily-taxed Mennonite farmers--continues to crank out poorly educated graduates.

I will never forget the ACLU's threatened lawsuit against the Noxubee County School board back in the late 1950s when the school board donated used and worn school books to the newly transplanted Mennonite commumity. The Mennonites were forced to return the books to be destroyed. Too bad that retiring Noxubee county native Andrew Mullins and his William Winter benefactor never learned from these "simple" German farm folk.

clintonrebel said...

Public schools are the new day care....free day care.

Anonymous said...

Senator David Blount's children attend St. Andrew's @ $13,425 per.

So all you people with children in the public school system pound sand.

Shadowfax said...

@Pugnacious. I wasn't aware of any of that. Thanks for the post.

Anonymous said...

Just received a Facebook invitation or notification of the following:

"Join us tonight in Visit Clarksdale for Wearin' the Green and Singing the Blues. Hosted by Ground Zero Blues Club, this event will raise funds for the Jonestown Family Center which operates a full-day Montessori pre-school, a toddler play group, an after-school tutoring and enrichment program, a parenting program, and a fitness and health club."

If this doesn't advocate 'cradle to grave' I don't know what does.


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