California Preschools Fall Short
By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 6/23/2008 1:14:00 PM
Although more than half of California’s little ones attend preschool, those who have the most to gain from the program are the least likely to participate, says a new study from the RAND Corporation.
Researchers at the nonprofit research organization found that Latino children, those from lower-income families, and those whose mothers have less education are significantly less likely h school diploma attended preschool, while 80 percent of children whose mothers have graduate degrees were in such programs. The chances a child will attend preschool rises with a family’s income.
Studies have shown that high-quality preschools can help children prepare for kindergarten and later grades. But in California, the quality of preschools is inconsistent. While two-thirds of children attended a program where teachers had an associate degree, only one in four childrthan others to attend center-based early care and education programs, even though they’re among the groups that consistently show a lack of readiness for school.
Just 45 percent of California children whose mothers have less than a higen were taught by teachers with a bachelor’s degree in the early childhood field or a related discipline, researchers say.
Most programs meet the benchmarks for class size and child-staff ratios, but only one in four kids participates in a classroom that provides instruction that promotes thinking and language skills, key features that prepare children for kindergarten, the study says. Children from more affluent families were no more likely to experience high quality early learning environments than children from low-income families, says the study, the latest findings from an ongoing research project intended to outline the adequacy and effectiveness of preschool education in California.
An estimated 59 percent of preschool-aged children in California attend preschool, including two-thirds of four-year-olds and half of three-year-olds. Participation is linked primarily to a family’s socioeconomic standing, rather than race or ethnicity, according to the study. About 22 percent of California’s preschool-aged children attend publicly funded center-based programs such as Head Start, the California State Preschool program, or public school pre-kindergarten; 28 percent attend private-school pre-kindergarten, preschools, or nursery schools; and 9 percent participate in a child care center.
“It is now the norm for California’s three- and four-year-olds to spend at least part of their day in a center-based early care and education program,” says Lynn Karoly, the study’s lead author and an economist at RAND. “Unfortunately, relatively few of the centers we studied provide the types of high-quality early learning experiences that can help prepare children to succeed when they enter school.”
The RAND study is based upon a survey of more than 2,000 households of children eligible to enter kindergarten in the fall of 2007 or 2008. Researchers also conducted interviews with preschool teachers and administrators from more than 600 programs.
The study, “Prepared to Learn: The Nature and Quality of Early Care and Education Experiences for Preschool-Age Children in California,” is available at www.rand.org.
