What is the Academic Value of Early Childhood Education and Pre-K Programs?

A local survey regarding the academic efficacy of Early Childhood Education programs suggests continued strong support among educators, while the latest published studies show minimal, if any, academic benefit attributable to such programs.... Why?

In early November, 2014, I surveyed approximately 1,900 teachers in the Escambia County School District on the subject of Early Childhood Education.

I immediately received nearly 400 responses to the six question survey I distributed, and I am very thankful to all who responded and submitted responses!  These summarized responses are presented in the table below.

I completed  a research project utilizing the latest published study results from this field combined with these local survey data on the subject of VPK, Universal Pre-K, Head Start, and other taxpayer subsidized early childhood education.

The results of the survey were not surprising; the vast majority of teachers locally strongly support the continuation/expansion of these taxpayer subsidized ECE programs--- even if the academic benefit of such expenditures, according to recent studies I cite in my research--- cannot be clearly demonstrated.  This overwhelming support for continuation is seemingly at odds with the majority of responses to question #5 below.  Interesting and perplexing.

Statistical Information on Students at Risk for 1st Grade Retention, By School



One of the most profound actions we have taken as a district to address early reading comprehension is to create a first grade gate--mandating a benchmarked level of reading proficiency prior to advancement---ahead of the state-mandated 3rd grade gate over which we have no control.  A couple of years ago, the district implemented this mandatory gate at first grade--in an effort to catch those students most at-risk of falling behind due to their inability to read on grade level upon completion of first grade.  I strongly supported this gate at 1st grade, and I continue to champion the idea that we need one at 8th grade as well--however that gate gets no support unfortunately, for reasons that are more social than academic.  

The best part about the gate we all agree upon, this first-grade gate,  is that it MANDATES parental participation in the process, with required contacts with the parents throughout the year in order to keep everyone updated on the progress the 1st grade students are making.  The parental engagement piece has been a vital key to the process.  As the below pictures indicate, most schools are now achieving the goal of having 100% of at-risk students' parents engage in conferences with the schools.  This is a feat, given the social mobility in many of our schools.  One of the interesting data points that we should be able to glean from this extra effort, beginning at the end of this school year, is the ability to see if the number of 3rd grade retentions in the district declines for the cohorts that have gone through the 1st grade gate, as compared to previous years where the district did not engage so aggressively at the first grade level.  That will be an interesting analysis that I'm interested in studying.

Additionally, we are funding several elementary schools for extended days for the purpose of intensive reading focus.  The success of this extra hour, or if it decreases the number of students held back, should also be apparent at the end of this school year, if similar students from other non-extended day schools are used for comparison.  I look forward to all of this data being made available, and I hope all of this extra effort increases the number of elementary school students that will be reading at grade level.