British Research Confirms Benefits of Preschool for All

Myth of Fadeout Refuted By Long-Term Positive Effects of High-Quality Pre-K

New research findings refute the myths--used by opponents of preschool for all--that pre-K benefits ultimately fade out and are of no benefit to middle-income children. Instead, the evidence concludes the opposite--that high-quality pre-K sets the stage for later success and for children from middle- and low-income families.

Edward Melhuish and colleagues found that 10-year-olds who had attended high-quality preschool scored 27 percent higher in math skills and performed better in other subjects compared to their peers who had attended low-quality preschools. Earlier studies comparing the preschoolers to children who had attended no preschool produced similar findings.

Researchers determined that the benefits for children who attend a good preschool include improved mathematics, reading and social skills over several years. Melhuish, a professor of human development at Birkbeck, University of London, says he and his colleagues found that high-quality preschools offer learning opportunities over and above what most homes can provide. Children's ability to work independently improves significantly as a result of preschool, something he points out is a high predictor of future academic success.

"Providing pre-K for all children would mean higher test scores, less school failure and increased high school graduation and college attendance," said NIEER Co-Director Steve Barnett. Melhuish agrees, saying the boosts in children's cognitive, language and social development his research found means children will benefit more from their experiences when they start school and that is likely to result in better math scores.

The U.K. study had a relatively large sample of 3,000 children from 141 preschools. The sample was divided into high- and low-income groups to discern any differences between the two. The results were remarkably similar for both.

In addition to studying the effects of preschool, the research also evaluated the influence of home environments and the effectiveness of pre-K and primary school on children's development.

Melhuish showed that all three are critical to children's development and that preschool is an important element in maximizing children's development, regardless of family background.

"The U.K. study is one of the best examples of a large study showing that children across the economic spectrum benefit from high-quality preschool education," said Barnett. What's more, it isn't the only study to show such results.
Independent reviews of all the research on preschool education's effects find that they are long lasting. Scientific research that averaged across all the studies of preschool's effects in the United States since 1960 found substantial positive effects on achievement, special education, grade retention and social behavior at ages 10 and higher.

"The idea that preschool effects fade out by third grade originated with one flawed study in the early 1960s, and a small number of weak studies continue to be cited to support the idea," said Barnett. "Those opposed to public pre-K ignore the preponderance of evidence from more rigorous studies that refute their position."

South Bend schools’ challenge: Gaps in ability

By JOSEPH DITS
South Bend Tribune

SOUTH BEND — As the minutes closed on her last school board meeting last week, Ann Rosen spoke of "the elephant in the room that we don't talk about."

Over several years, she said, the students of the South Bend Community School Corp. have changed. More of them are poorer and are minorities. As a result, the needs of students have changed. The schools must do a good job of educating both the kids with these needs and the kids who excel, said Rosen, whose term on the board is ending.

Rosen pointed to research from 1998 that found that children in welfare families heard one-half to one-third as many spoken words as children in more affluent households. And the kids' vocabulary reflected that.

"This language gap deeply affects children's ability to read," said Rosen, a consultant with a local group called the Family Connection.

Indeed, numbers from the Indiana Department of Education show that minorities have grown steadily in the school corporation since 1990, from 35 percent of the student body to 59 percent. During the same time, minorities grew from almost 14 percent of students across Indiana to 24 percent.

Hispanic youth grew from 7 percent of the school corporation's student body to 15.5 percent.

And the percent of South Bend students on free lunch programs has grown from 42 percent in 1996 to a high of 58 percent this year — while students with reduced-price lunches have gone from 6.5 percent to a high of 10 percent in that time, according to the DOE.

"If I had one wish for the community," Rosen said, "it's that it would invest in quality early childhood education."

She said James Heckman, a Nobel Laureate economist at the University of Chicago, argues that it's wise for communities to invest in good early childhood education to ward off social problems.

Earlier in the meeting, John Ritzler touched on a similar theme.

When it comes to ISTEP results, the biggest challenge the school corporation faces is the achievement gap between whites and minorities and between income levels, said Ritzler, director of research and evaluation.

When you look at all South Bend schools together, the number of students who passed the ISTEP this year dropped 1.4 percent from last year. But it was up 3.5 percent from five years ago, Ritzler said. If you look at particular grades and schools, you'll see ups and downs in those five years.

But overall, the achievement gap hasn't diminished, Ritzler said. For example, in those five years:

-Fewer students on free or reduced-price lunches have been passing the 10th-grade English/language arts portion of the test than kids with paid lunches — by 27 to 34 percentage points.

-Fewer Hispanic students have been passing 10th-grade English/language arts than white kids — by 33 to 40 percentage points.

-Fewer black students have been passing third-grade English/language arts than white kids — by 22 to 29 percentage points.

Ritzler said individual ISTEP results were mailed last week to families' homes.

School board member Dawn Jones agrees with Rosen's points and says the achievement gaps are driven by poverty. It just so happens that many low-income families tend to be minorities, she says.

Jones, who is black, says: "Education changes your perspective on things around you. You're able to identify resources to help you get to the next level."

She tries to help families to identify those resources as director of the YMCA Urban Youth Services.

For example, she says, poor families are less likely to afford and have Internet access in their homes, which normally helps kids to do their homework and learn so much more.

She acknowledges that immigrant Hispanic students may not hit the same ISTEP scores as other kids, which she attributes to culture and communication gaps. But she gives them credit for working hard to learn English in a short time.

Trina Robinson, president of the local NAACP branch, says there always will be achievement gaps until the schools understand the family dynamics of poor, struggling households — that is, what it takes just to get a child to school. And, she adds, there needs to be teachers whose passions are to work with these kids.

Staff writer Joseph Dits:
jdits@sbtinfo.com

Universal preK brings new challenges for public elementary schools

A recent Harvard Education Letter by David McKay Wilson, outlines some challenges posed by incorporating a universal pre-K progam into existing institutions:

In 2005, when Boston mayor Thomas Menino announced his plan to make prekindergarten available to all four-year-olds in the city, parents and early childhood advocates applauded this initiative to add a 14th year to the city’s public school system.

Three years later, after preK classrooms were established in 50 of the city’s 67 elementary schools, educators say implementing the mayor’s vision has proved to be a major challenge. There were facility issues: none of the classrooms had running water or bathrooms, so administrators lobbied to build toilet facilities in the rooms—at the cost of $35,000 each. There were oversight issues: many of the elementary school principals weren’t sensitive to the needs of four-year-olds, so Boston established a professional development academy for administrators faced with the prospect of educating preschoolers.

Then there was the impact on the elementary schools where those four-year-olds were getting ready for kindergarten. When those students turned five, they were so well prepared that the district had to retool its kindergarten curriculum to keep pace with children much more ready to learn.

http://www.edletter.org/insights/collide.shtml

There are many states with extensive experience implementing universal pre-K ciricula. Oklahoma has ten years. That gives Indiana a chance to learn from the body of work of others. We should go beyond the debate about universal full day Kindergarten if we're really serious about better outcomes for our children.