State continues high pre-K enrollment
Oklahoma remains one of the top states for participation in preschool, according to a new national study on preschool access.
Seventy four percent of 4-year-olds in the state attend a pre-kindergarten program, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research, which evaluated 4-year-olds education in every state.
The District of Columbia, Florida and Wisconsin were the only other places with participation above 70 percent.
“Oklahoma really does lead the country in high quality standards for our pre-K programs,” said Debra Anderson, executive director of Smart Start Oklahoma.
Anderson said the areas where Oklahoma could improve would be to align standards between traditional pre-K and other preschool programs, such as Head Start and other early childhood programs.
“I would like to see us develop a way for families and our state to be able to have that similar quality rating across all our programs,” Anderson said.
Oklahoma received relatively high marks for its programs for 4-yearolds, although the report highlighted the state’s lack of required professional development for early childhood teachers.
State superintendent Joy Hofmeister briefly discussed the report at a state Board of Education meeting last week and said the report was something to be proud of, especially as the state faces school funding challenges and a shortage of early childhood teachers.
However, Hofmeister said the state risked dropping in performance if it didn’t address the shortage of teachers for pre-K programs.
More than a quarter of the state’s emergency certified teachers last year were in elementary school and emergency certified early childhood teachers were some of the most used by Oklahoma school.
In 1998, Oklahoma became just the second state to provide free school for all 4-year-olds following a decade of coverage for low-income preschool students.
Oklahoma ranks No. 31 in state spending for pre-K at $3,476 per child, a significant drop from the $5,038 offered in 2010.