As enrollment in public prekindergarten programs continues to climb across the nation, education leaders are also devoting more attention to improving quality in the classroom.
Raising early education standards and providing families with high-caliber school options ranked among the top areas of focus for administrators and researchers who participated last week in a discussion on pre-K hosted by the Kinder Institute’s Houston Education Research Consortium.
The conversation convened education leaders from four metro areas — Houston, Baltimore, Chicago and San Francisco — to share thoughts on the future of early education in the United States and lessons learned from research collaborations.
While each region faces different policy environments and government structures, the speakers agreed on several common challenges facing public school districts offering pre-K. They include an understaffed and undertrained workforce, curriculum that’s not aligned with later grades and trouble connecting with families considering their options.
The issues are arising as cities and states across the country are upping their investment in pre-K — particularly for 4-year-olds — in response to research showing positive impacts on elementary school readiness and, to a lesser extent, future academic achievement.
Addressing workforce shortages, turnover and training
Hiring and retaining qualified educators are persistent concerns for early childhood providers.
Speakers repeatedly cited frequent turnover among pre-K teachers, as well as a lack of dedicated training on how to serve the youngest students. Lieny Jeon, director of early childhood initiatives at the Baltimore Education Research Consortium, said researchers in the region have tracked administrative data showing instances of providers losing every staff member within a single calendar year.
“We cannot really expand pre-K access successfully without a strong workforce and without caring about the people providing care and education for our young children,” Jeon said. “If we want high-quality pre-K, I believe that we really need to treat early childhood educators as essential professionals and build systems that support their well-being and long-term commitment to the field.”
The discussion also highlighted growing attention to specialized early childhood training. In Texas, all public school pre-K teachers must hold bachelor’s degrees, but are not required to have early childhood education certifications.
Pamela Geisler, director of budget and policy for the Early Education Department at San Francisco Unified School District, said a city initiative to invest tens of millions of dollars in improved pay and benefits for local early childhood educators has boosted the quality of the region’s labor pool. She cautioned, though, that researchers haven’t yet linked higher pay to improved student outcomes.
Kinder Institute researchers have found few pre-K teachers in the Houston area receive specific training in early childhood education, though state leaders and local colleges are increasingly investing in programs providing it.
Aligning pre-K with early elementary years
In recent years, Chicago Public Schools has added several thousand pre-K seats and converted more classes from half-day to full-day instruction.
Now, district leaders are emphasizing the importance of improving pre-K curriculum and aligning it with early elementary school grades, said Terri Sabol, an associate professor at Northwestern University and faculty co-director of the Early Childhood Research Alliance of Chicago.
Sabol said district administrators are working to tailor curriculum to the needs of students in each grade level and build upon acquired skills.
“We certainly do not want pre-K to become third grade,” Sabol said. “There’s a specific type of developmentally appropriate practice that we know is not only good for kids (in early education) in terms of their development of self, but also for their academic learning. We know kids learn through play.”
Appealing to families navigating school options
Families with young children often choose between enrolling prekindergartners in a school district, private provider and community-based organization. Often, those decisions are shaped by factors beyond academics, including work schedules, transportation, childcare arrangements and trust in local institutions.
In Chicago, researchers studying universal public pre-K expansion found some families stuck with community-based providers because school district programs didn’t match adults’ work schedules or younger siblings also attended the provider.
In Baltimore, some pre-K seats don’t get filled because of a lack of awareness or families opting for different choices, Jeon said. She added that Judy Centers, early childhood and family support hubs housed in Baltimore elementary schools, have helped build trust with immigrant families through long-term community relationships and informal communication networks.
“As pre-K options expand, systems will need to better communicate with families,” Jeon said. “We need to have stronger outreach to help families understand what options are available, who's eligible, how they can apply and why pre-K even matters.”
Navigating enrollment uncertainty
Urban school districts across the country are seeing enrollment drop, largely the result of declining birth rates, changing immigration patterns and suburban flight.
The declines are forcing districts to cut spending and reallocate resources at a time when educators want to expand early childhood programs.
In Texas, education leaders are particularly watching to see how enrollment is affected by the state’s newly enacted school voucher program, which will allow families to use public funds toward private education expenses. State officials haven’t released data showing how many prekindergarteners will ultimately receive vouchers, an early indication of the potential impact on public school enrollment.
“We don’t really know the effect of those vouchers on public pre-K enrollment,” said Courtney Thrash, a Kinder Institute researcher and discussion panelist. “We’re already seeing some effects of demographic change on public pre-K enrollment, so it is just up in the air about how that is going to affect enrollment.”
