State-funded preschool enrollment in the U.S. rose to 1.8 million kids, reaching 37% of 4-year-olds and about 10% of 3-year-olds, the annual report said. More than half the nation\u2019s public preschool enrollment gain \u2014 some 25,000 students \u2014 came from California, which this school year made every 4-year-old eligible for its transitional kindergarten program.<\/p>\n
In total, states added 44,000 students to their preschool enrollment. But the report\u2019s authors noted that the gains were smaller than the year prior and said preschool access remains wildly uneven from state to state. Some states \u2014 including Alaska and Arizona \u2014 even lost ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf providing high-quality preschool education to all 3- and 4-year-olds were a race,\u201d the authors wrote, \u201csome states are nearing the finish line, others have stumbled and fallen behind, and a few have yet to leave the starting line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Engage with our community-funded journalism <\/a>as we delve into child care, transitional kindergarten, health and other issues affecting children from birth through age 5.<\/p>\n Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Michigan, Mississippi and Rhode Island are the only six states to meet all of the benchmarks evaluated by the report.<\/p>\n The rapid rollout of California\u2019s transitional kindergarten program has had its tradeoffs. The national institute outlines 10 quality benchmarks for preschools, related to teacher training, class size and curriculum. <\/p>\n Transitional kindergarten, which serves nearly half of the state\u2019s 4-year-olds, met just three of them last school year, according to the report. It fell short several areas and improvements are needed to expand professional teacher development, further limit class sizes and require health screenings, the report said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really want to make sure that quality piece and educational learning goals are centered in the program,\u201d NIEER associate research professor Allison Friedman-Krauss said.<\/p>\n In California there have also been unintended impacts on other preschool providers. Private preschool owners say the rush of 4-year-olds joining public schools threatens to cripple their businesses<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cUniversal TK … is a real win, but it\u2019s also just the start of the work and not the end of it,\u201d said Jessica Sawko of Children Now, which advocates on early childhood issues in California. She said the state is expected to reach two more quality benchmarks in next year\u2019s report. The TK student-teacher ratio was lowered to 10-to-1 this school year and lead teachers are now required to have early education training. <\/p>\n California State Preschool Program, which serves 11% of 3-year-olds based largely on income eligibility, met six of the 10 benchmarks with room to grow on teacher degree requirements, professional development and class size limits.<\/p>\n The state ranks fourth on spending, averaging $14,907 per student across both programs.<\/p>\n Evidence is mounting that the impact of high-quality preschool can follow children into adulthood, making them better prepared for kindergarten<\/a>, more likely to graduate high school and more likely to find work. And it is increasingly seen as essential for success in kindergarten and beyond. Educators now also expect youngsters to start their first year of school already equipped with the basics that help them navigate kindergarten.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a lot of kids who still do not fulfill their potential,\u201d said Steven Barnett, founder and director of the early education institute. \u201cWe have evidence \u2014 very strong evidence \u2014 that preschool programs substantially improved the foundation for later success.\u201d<\/p>\n Preschool means confident kindergartners<\/p>\n Heather Sifuentes witnessed the impact of preschool when she was principal of Parkview Elementary in Chico, California, as it began its transitional kindergarten program. She said students who attended the program, which has a play-based curriculum and runs the length of a workday, arrived with more confidence and often volunteered to be class leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re well prepared to transition into that big elementary school setting,\u201d said Sifuentes, now director of elementary education for Chico Unified School District. Chico has more than doubled the number of TK seats it offers since 2022.<\/p>\n Marisol Marquez, a secretary who works for the state, sends her daughter to TK at 1st Street Elementary in Los Angeles. She and her husband, a UPS driver, are grateful for the free public school option. <\/p>\n Educators there quickly discovered her daughter was bright and began sending her to kindergarten for math and reading lessons. \u201cIf it hadn\u2019t been for this program, we would have never found that out,\u201d Marquez said.<\/p>\n In some states, preschool is expensive. In others, it\u2019s free<\/p>\n No state mandates that children attend preschool, and only some cities and states make it accessible to every 4-year-old.<\/p>\n Preschool offerings differ vastly. A family living in Wyoming, which has no state-funded preschool, could move across the border to Colorado, where every parent can send their 4-year-old to part-time preschool for free. In the District of Columbia all families have access to two full years of pre-kindergarten, while neighboring Virginia has a far less robust program.<\/p>\n The uneven access from state to state can exacerbate disparities. Wealthier families can often afford private preschool tuition, which can average more than $12,000 for 4-year-olds, according to Child Care Aware of America.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/58\/63\/50ef761d4adfa8b451b6a006b800\/lat-early-childhood-initiative-logo-1.svg\"){kind=logo}
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