Chrisanne Gayl

1
Exploring the federal role

• Chrisanne Gayl
• Director, Federal Programs
• National School Boards Association
• cgayl_at_nsba.org

2
Federal investment

• Federal government has been slow to develop or
  encourage pre-k programming for 3 and 4
  year-olds.
• One notable exception Head Start (6.8 bil).
  However, only reaches families that are living at
  or below 100 poverty.
• Child Care and Development Block Grant
  subsidizes care for low-income families through
  slot or voucher (4.8 billion in 2005).
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
  can be used for a broad array of purposes (3.6
  billion in 2005).

3
Time has come

• Preschool has emerged as an important strategy to
  increase school readiness and improve student
  achievement.
• NSBA supports proposals to develop universally
  available, high-quality early childhood education
  programs that offer community support to all
  families.
• Facilities programs should be provided to serve
  the needs and talents of pre-K children.

4
Responses from Districts by Number of Students
Enrolled
Based on responses from 456 school board members
(14 percent response rate)
5
Response by District Type
Based on responses from 456 school board members
(14 percent response rate)
6
Participation

• 70 indicated that their school district does
  offer publicly funded preschool for 3 and/or 4
  year olds.
• Large majority (66) specified that the district
  preschool program is targeted to a specific
  population.
• 76 receive state funding, 14 do not and 10 are
  unsure

7
Benefits

• Greatest benefit accelerates childrens social,
  emotional, and cognitive development to become
  school ready (77)
• Reduces the achievement gap between low-income
  children and their more affluent peers (71)
• Reduces district expenses by decreasing
  remediation and special education costs (46)

8
Survey findings
79
26
17
16
Lack of resources
Hiring qualified teachers/staff
Coordinating/ collaborating with eligible
providers
Lack of clear expectations/standards for school
readiness
9
Findings from Survey Barriers
85
58
17
11
Lack of funding
Limited space
Limited
Lack of
collaboration
community
interest
10
Federal policy recommendations

• New federal grant program to fund portion of
  costs to develop and expand voluntary quality
  preschool programs in local school districts.
• Key caveats
• School district participation discretionary
• Parent/student participation discretionary
• Not at expense of K-12 funding
• Doesnt foster vouchers

11
of Four-Year-Olds Attending Pre-K 2004-2005
Source National Institute for Early Education
Research
12
Federal recommendations (cont)

• Programs adopt developmentally appropriate early
  ed standards aligned with states K-12 standards.
• Require outside pre-k providers to collaborate
  with local districts.
• Encourage states to upgrade teacher certification
  / licensure systems
• Bachelors degree
• Early ed training

13
Federal recommendations (cont)

• Devote resources to districts to develop /
  implement joint training and professional
  development programs for early ed instructors.
• Tools / incentives to replicate effective models
  and improve program quality.