Does Pre-k live up to the hype?

Study finds that gains don’t last

Want to increase the likelihood that your children fall under the rubric of “special needs”? Enroll them in a state-funded pre-k program. That’s one of several concerning results from a large, random-assignment study of Tennessee’s voluntary pre-k program. Starting in 2009, researchers Dale Farran and Mark Lipsey tracked around 3,000 4-year-olds whose parents applied for pre-k. Some children enrolled, but due to space limitations, others weren’t able to participate.

Participants in the pre-k program entered kindergarten with “greater gains in literacy, language and math skills.” So far, so good. But those positive “effects on achievement largely disappeared by the end of kindergarten.” By the second grade, children in the control group had “surpassed that of VPK participants on some achievement measures.” That trend continued into the third grade as pre-k students “scored lower on the reading, math and science tests” with a statistically significant difference for math and science.

Those findings are similar to the federal government’s conclusions in a 2012 study of Head Start, which is federally funded pre-k. That random-assignment study followed 5,000 children. Participants generally had better scores entering kindergarten, but those gains had faded by the end of third grade.

There are many potential reasons for this. It could be a result of poor program quality or how early elementary teachers approach higher-achieving students. It could be that staying home prepares 4-year-olds better for long-term gains. In the Tennessee study, two-thirds of children who weren’t accepted into a program did just that. One new finding from this study was that children who enrolled in pre-k were 25 percent more likely to need special education services in third grade. The researchers found that at least some of the difference came from a child receiving a label in pre-k that followed him or her throughout elementary school.

“It is thus possible that VPK results in the identification of some pre-k children for special education who are just developing more slowly but who would otherwise catch up by kindergarten,” wrote Mr. Farran and Mr. Lipsey in a piece discussing the study. “Such identification may then lead to lower educational expectations and levels of instruction for these children,” they surmise.

Nevada lawmakers have expanded the state’s pre-k program in recent years, spending around $7 million a year on the initiative. There will be pressure during the next session to boost funding. But before throwing millions more taxpayer dollars into the system to placate the education establishment, perhaps it would be more prudent for lawmakers to determine whether pre-k programs actually accomplish their objectives.

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