OPINION - Guest writer

Pre-K falls behind

High-quality education vital

We know that when students have better beginnings, those effects can last a lifetime. Pre-K education forms the building blocks of a student's success, from kindergarten all the way up to entrance into the work force, and we can all agree that our pre-K education system in Arkansas has some room for improvement.

But how do we start making a positive difference?

First, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has already recognized the importance of early childhood education and has stepped up to the plate with a $3 million funding increase this legislative session. We are thankful for his commitment, as it is certainly a reflection of pre-K's lasting impact, but more is needed to truly move the needle and support high-quality programs.

According to James Heckman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, the estimated return on investment for each dollar invested in pre-K for low-income children is up to $13. But Arkansas has lost its footing as a national leader in providing high-quality pre-K. In 2005, pre-K spending in Arkansas ranked eighth, but has since fallen to 22nd in 2015 in relation to other states.

Arkansas has not had a funding increase for pre-K in the last 10 years.

So it is critical now that we all look at how pre-K is funded, and explore options for leveraging those dollars in high-need areas of the state with research-based solutions. We'd like to see additional funding, plus a match from the Walton Family Foundation, allocated toward research into the commonalities in pre-K centers that are producing school readiness, compared to those that aren't. Additionally, we'd like to focus on studying our kindergarten assessments based on longitudinal data that spans all the way from pre-K to college graduation, something we now have access to with the partnership ForwARd has formed with Westat, a nationally acclaimed research organization.

Now, questions we must ask ourselves include: 1. What defines a quality program and school readiness? 2. How do we measure quality? 3. How do we incentivize innovation and replicate best practices?

Much discussion has surrounded what constitutes a quality program, and ForwARd Arkansas has elicited the support of Westat to help all of us better understand high-quality pre-K's lasting impacts. ForwARd Arkansas is a partnership that the Walton Family Foundation has cultivated with the Arkansas Board of Education and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation. ForwARd's goal is to improve student achievement at a historically ambitious yet achievable rate and close the achievement gap within a generation, and its first of seven focus areas is on pre-K education, specifically on securing additional funding for Arkansas' high-quality programs.

We're still working to find the commonalities between programs that produce results. It's important for us to, as a state, decide what constitutes quality for our own kindergarten students and then advocate for accountability among programs to be transparent and annually report this data.

Each of these facets will inform best practices and lead us to a path forward to replicate these programs in the future, and incentivize successful programs. We can then transfer best practices into Arkansas pre-K classrooms using innovation grants and targeted professional development for teachers.

All things considered, it's also important for us all to keep in mind that Arkansas only has about 486,000 public school children, which is smaller than many urban districts. So, when we look at our efforts and what we'd like to achieve, it's very do-able.

Pre-K is certainly the place to start, and we're proud to be a part of the ForwARd Arkansas partnership, focused on achieving long-term success for our state's students and future leaders. If we work together and let data inform our decisions, we will be successful in ensuring our children get the best start possible.

------------v------------

Kathy Smith is senior program officer for Arkansas education reform at the Walton Family Foundation.

Editorial on 03/24/2017

Upcoming Events