Fix-It-First for K-12

By Jim Stergios
August 25th, 2008

Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell argue in their WJS Op-ed (Protect Our Kids fro Preschool) from Friday (8/22) that pre-K may make sense for families with challenges or in acutely underperforming districts, but that universal pre-K makes little sense.

In the last half-century, U.S. preschool attendance has gone up to nearly 70% from 16%. But fourth-grade reading, science, and math scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) — the nation’s report card — have remained virtually stagnant since the early 1970s.

Dalmia and Snell cite data from Education Week regarding student performance to call into question the value of pre-K programs in Georgia, Oklahoma and several other states, as well as Strategic Research Group’s review of Tennessee’s preschool program, all of which found that there was “no statistical difference in the performance of preschool versus nonpreschool kids on any subject after first grade.”

Dalmia and Snell are correct in citing no significant increases in student performance as measured by the national assessments, though, to be fair, the Oklahoma pre-K program has not been in place long enough to judge it adequately.

Their second point for me is more important. Whether after school, pre-K or other shiny new programs, we should focus on addressing the failures of the current system before we add on new programs that are based structurally on the existing system, with its labor monopoly, its lack of leadership and all the rest.

I know that is not nice. But, folks, we should get serious and not simply have more announcements.