What is Pre-Kindergarten? Characteristics of Public Pre-Kindergarten Programs

TLDR

Public pre‑kindergarten programs have long been operated by states, yet detailed accounts of their intensity, location, staffing, and served populations remain sparse. The study seeks to examine how public pre‑kindergarten programs address issues such as intensity, location, staffing, and population served. It collected data from 240 programs, weighted to represent six states and two regions in California and New York. Weighted analyses show that slightly more than half of school‑related pre‑kindergarten programs are part‑day and located outside school buildings, meet national standards for class size, adult‑child ratios, and teacher certification, serve a diverse population with about half from low‑income backgrounds, and that African American, Asian, and Latino children are more likely than White children to attend classes with a high proportion of low‑income children, highlighting process quality issues.

Abstract

Abstract States have accumulated considerable experience in operating publicly sponsored pre-kindergarten programs. In spite of this extensive experience, only fragmentary accounts exist of how these pre-kindergarten (pre-k) programs handle issues such as program intensity, location, staffing, and population served. These issues are addressed by the National Center for Early Development and Learning's Multi-State Study of Pre-Kindergarten, which collected data from 240 programs. Data were weighted to represent the 4 states (Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio) and each of the 2 regions in California and New York from which they were drawn. Using these weighted data, we estimate that slightly more than half of these school-related programs were part-day and slightly more than half were located outside of school buildings. Although these programs varied in process quality, on average, they met National Association for the Education of Young Children recommended standards for class size, adult:child ratios, and teacher certification. The programs served an ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse population of children, although about half of pre-k children were from low-income backgrounds. African American, Asian, and Latino children were more likely than White children to attend a pre-k class with a high proportion of children from low-income backgrounds. Issues of process quality were highlighted in the study.