The Strategic Research Group (SRG) report confirms what we have said all along – pre-K is successful in preparing children for kindergarten, and that preparation lasts beyond kindergarten and the first grade. In fact, SRG acknowledges in the report’s general summary that the “report provides the first indication, however, that some positive effects associated with Pre-K participation may extend beyond the second grade.”
Also of interest, SRG makes “the assumption that the Pre-K and non-Pre-K groups ‘started out’ at a similar point prior to the opportunity to participate in Pre-K” (Page 29).
This is simply not true. If Tennessee’s children all started out at the same point, pre-K would not be necessary. Again, the point of the program is to create a level academic playing field for at-risk students.
Make no mistake that pre-K is a long-term investment. Children coming unprepared to first grade is a recipe for academic disaster down the road. Tennessee is currently a national leader in providing pre-K to at-risk children. It would be a shame to retreat from that leadership position, and it would clearly impact any other educational reform efforts at the K-12 level. We urge the General Assembly to maintain current pre-K funding levels in order to give 18,000 Tennessee children a fighting chance for academic success.
Diane Neighbors
Chair of the Tennessee Alliance for Early Education