If you’re accustomed to thinking that pre-K is all about paste and crayons, it may have been jarring to hear Mayor de Blasio identify it last Wednesday as a key tool “to build the middle class [and] the security and stability of our city, our state, our nation.” Heady stuff, which Gov. Cuomo echoed in his State of the State address later that day.
The mayor and governor are right when they assert that research is near-unanimous that well-designed early education has tremendously positive effects. If de Blasio and Cuomo can deliver a state-of-the-art pre-K system, New York City and State would benefit enormously.
Studies show that students who attend high-quality pre-K programs are less likely to repeat a grade, be classified for special education, drop out, have kids out of wedlock, wind up on welfare or end up in prison. Students also earn more (and pay more taxes) as adults.
In the short term, pre-K supports working families by lowering the cost of child care, raising maternal employment rates, and reducing the number of parents who rely on welfare. Spend money on pre-K now . . . and society gets more productive workers today and tomorrow.
Pre-K slices! It dices! It’s low in calories! High in fiber and antioxidants! Gets great gas mileage! Shortens the duration of the common cold!
What’s the catch? While pre-K can make a huge difference, the distance between its promise and its practice is wider than most politicians, de Blasio and Cuomo included, acknowledge.
We know what works — but what works isn’t always immediately possible or politically expedient.
A recent report surveying more than 80 studies of pre-K programs found a few keys to success: 1) they’re designed to align with the K-12 system, and 2) they have effective teachers prepared for the unique challenges of early childhood education.
Start with alignment. Skeptics point to studies that show that pre-K’s academic gains often disappear after a few years in the K-12 system.
Why? Pre-K programs don’t exist in isolation. A strong pre-K program is like stomping on the gas pedal. While it accelerates students’ progress, lasting gains require steady educational quality. Of course pre-K’s effects dwindle if students leave it to attend ineffective classrooms and schools.
Following high-quality pre-K with a subpar, poorly-resourced education is like easing up on the gas and coasting. That’s no way to win a race, and it’s no way to improve students’ educational outcomes — especially for kids racing “uphill” against the challenges of extreme poverty.
That’s why new pre-K investments require rethinking the rest of elementary school. For example: Since many kindergartners are unprepared for school, their teachers begin the year with remediation. If great pre-K eliminates that problem, teachers and administrators will need to change their expectations for kindergarten (and beyond).
There are more crucial questions. Will all pre-K providers all use the same curricula? Do those materials line up with kindergarten curricula? New York doesn’t even require districts to offer full-day kindergarten — so would some kids attend a full-day pre-K program and then taper back to half-day for kindergarten?
As hard as alignment is, the workforce challenges may be tougher — and more pressing. We know that teacher effectiveness is one of the most important variables for education at any age. In the United States, we pay pre-K instructors less than animal trainers or parking attendants.
That’s right: We pay folks more to watch our pets and cars than to educate our four-year-olds. Hardly a recipe for attracting top talent.
So, New York simply needs to offer higher pre-K teacher salaries in return for higher qualifications, right?
No. Quality doesn’t just raise the price tag — it is also very difficult to identify. Great pre-K programs are run by teachers who maximize meaningful, developmentally-appropriate student interactions.
Credentials matter less than what teachers do in the classroom. Students need conversations that get them thinking and talking. It’s not clear that existing training programs prepare teachers to do that.
Monday, de Blasio said, “We don’t want a phase-in. We don’t want a someday.”
His urgency is appropriate. Quality pre-K delivers tremendous benefits to kids, to their families and to the wider economy. Every year New York delays expanding pre-K access will leave thousands of kids without its benefits. But meeting that urgency requires getting serious about building a pre-K system that ensures quality, even if it makes for less snappy rhetoric.
Williams is a senior researcher in New America Foundation’s Early Education Initiative. Follow him on Twitter @conorpwilliams.
