The best way to expand 4K

By PAUL KROHNE

Guest columnist

When asked what it would take to level the educational playing field for children born into poverty in South Carolina, one school superintendent testifying in the state’s equity funding lawsuit summed up what nearly all education experts believe: “High-quality, high-quality early childhood programs. The sooner, the earlier, the better.”

The General Assembly’s move to expand preschool programs for 4-year-olds disadvantaged by poverty is unquestionably the right thing to do, even without the recent court ruling that requires it. In a political climate where consensus is rare, virtually no one disputes the fact that early intervention in the lives of the poorest children dramatically increases success in school — making it one of the best investments a state can make.

The moral and economic imperative to provide high-quality preschool programs, in a state with vast expanses of poverty and large student-achievement gaps, demands quick legislative action motivated only by providing the most effective, efficient programs possible. It appears the Legislature is now ready to support educators who for years have advocated the need to invest in programs for more 4-year-olds. However, a troublesome cloud is already forming on the horizon.

The legislative turf war over 4K expansion has produced a variety of proposals. One would place oversight authority for pre-kindergarten with the Office of First Steps, the state agency that oversees public/private partnerships currently serving 123 disadvantaged 4-year-olds in a small number of private child care programs. A second plan would assign responsibility for 4K programs to the Legislature’s Education Oversight Committee. Still another would create a new bureaucracy altogether, large and unwieldy, by placing both the departments of Education and Social Services in charge.

South Carolina’s children cannot benefit from more layers of bureaucracy, cumbersome administration or a hodgepodge of unconnected programs. The commonsense and practical solution is to expand preschool services at the state level within the structures that already exist in the Department of Education and in local school districts. This would guarantee children a seamless transition from pre-kindergarten programs into public kindergarten programs. Anything less is simply a waste of money, energy and opportunity to serve our children.

Preschool programs have been offered for 21 years in our public schools, which serve nearly 18,000 4-year-olds whose family situations place them at highest risk of academic failure. Thousands of additional high-risk children are on waiting lists for public programs but can’t be served at current funding levels.

Our 4K system has attracted national attention and is widely recognized as among the strongest in the nation. Stringent quality requirements are one important reason. Four-year-olds in local schools are taught by teachers fully certified in early childhood education, in small classes with low student-teacher ratios, using tested and proven standards and curriculum.

Expanding preschool services through local schools would not only maintain consistently high quality, but also ensure that children arrive for kindergarten armed with the specific skills and abilities they will need to meet South Carolina’s challenging academic standards. Public 4K standards, curriculum and teaching materials are closely aligned with those for K-12, creating a seamless transition for children from preschool to elementary grades.

School districts that lack the facilities and personnel to accommodate expanded preschool can work with private child care providers through existing public-private networks and maintain the high quality and built-in coordination of public programs.

Studies confirm the quality of these programs is producing dramatic results. Just last year, the National Institute for Early Education Research found that 4-year-olds enrolled in public preschool programs significantly improved a wide range of crucial reading skills compared with children not enrolled. Other research, tracking students through fifth grade, found that high-risk children participating in public preschool continued performing as well as, and even better than, their wealthier peers on state tests.

High-quality preschool experiences are well-tested and proven to change the lives, permanently, of children raised in conditions many can’t begin to imagine. There will never be a better reason and never a better time to set ideologies aside, end the folly of partisan politics and simply do what works best for children and the state.

Dr. Krohne is executive director of the South Carolina School Boards Association.