Why Is Universal Pre-Kindergarten Important?

President Biden recently proposed The American Families Plan, part of which would create free Universal Pre-Kindergarten programs for all three and four-year-old children in America. This is important news, arriving just as the latest large-scale study regarding outcomes for children who attend early childhood programs is published.

Let’s examine “why” the current administration’s initiative is so important.

As an early childhood educator, I am familiar with what a quality preschool program has to offer. It provides for children to learn and grow in a safe and stimulating environment while providing a strong foundation for future learning in all areas of development, cognitive and intellectual, social and emotional as well as physical. For many children, Pre-K or Nursery School is their first experience away from their family. If the program is of high quality, with well-trained staff, it will be the place where they continue the challenging work of learning about the world around them and understanding the inner world of feelings and emotions.

The latest research was based on a study of a Pre-K program in the Boston public schools. Since Boston did not have enough spots for every four-year-old in the city, it used a lottery system to choose who would participate. That lottery was an opportunity for academic researchers to compare the outcome of thousands of similar students who did or did not attend a Pre-K program. The results gave social scientists a way to study the long-term effects of a Pre-Kindergarten experience on thousands of students who had been randomly selected.

Though students did not perform noticeably better on standardized tests - a limited measurement of school success - they fared better on overall social skills and other educational measures like high school and college graduation rates.

Students attending the Pre-K program were less likely to be suspended in high school.

They were less likely to be sentenced to juvenile incarcerations.

70% in Pre-K programs were likely to graduate from high school compared to 64% who did not participate in pre-K programs.

Those attending Pre-K were more likely to take the SAT, a test necessary to pursue higher education.

They were more likely to enroll in college.

And though the evidence is still incomplete- they are more likely to graduate from college.

So, rather than showing improvement in a narrow academic sense, children who completed Pre-Kindergarten programs have improved social and emotional skills and more maturity.

And what every early childhood educator knows is that those gains should not be underestimated. Instead, they will be a future indicator of success in all areas of development, intellectual as well as social and emotional.

I think it is time that we as a nation focus our efforts on providing all children with the strong start that Pre-Kindergarten delivers, and the Universal Pre-K program does just that.

President Biden’s proposal includes funding for training early childhood teachers and adequately compensating them for their important work.

This is an investment in our children, in the future of our country.