Public Program Quality Evaluation
Overview of the Program and the Program Rationale
In 2011, approximately 23% of all children in the United States were children of immigrants. Many of these children have come from countries where the educational systems have not prepared them with competitive skills that will support a good standard of living. Various policies to address this issue have been proposed. Of the feasible options, the policy most likely to achieve popular approval is the provision of preschool education to all low-immigrant children. In part, the basis for this support is the historical national approval of programs such as Head Start. Recently, the nation has seen an upswing in state-funded pre-K programs that focus on preparing low-income 4-year-old children for kindergarten and elementary school. Head Start programs continue in a parallel manner, and necessarily so, as only a handful of states offer pubic school-based pre-K programs to all students in their districts. Interesting results have been found in a comparison between Head Start programs and pre-K program in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Head Start was found to improve the health outcomes of enrolled preschoolers while the school-based pre-K programs showed more improvement in early literacy performance. Head Start did not show improvements in social-emotional effects, but the school-based pre-K programs did. The two programs were equivalent in early mathematics learning.
An evaluation was conducted of the school-based Pre-K program in Tulsa, Oklahoma that is sufficiently robust to provide a model that can be used in other districts that implement pre-K programs. At the time of the evaluation, Oklahoma was one of only three states in the U.S. offering free pre-K programs to all students ages three and four years of age in the state's participating districts. The rigorous evaluation enabled the same test to be administered to 4-year-olds beginning pre-K and 5-year-olds beginning kindergarten in September 2001. Moreover, strict eligibility cut-offs based on date of birth were utilized, which fostered control for selection effects, and possible effects that could be attributed to gender, race or ethnicity, and free or reduced school lunch eligibility. The Tulsa pre-K program evaluation demonstrated strong positive effects on language development and cognitive test scores. Hispanic children showed the most benefit, followed by black children, who especially made strong gains when attending full-day programs.
Program Description
The pre-K program is available to all 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds regardless of household income levels. The program is funded by state general revenues and is arranged to flow-through from the public schools to the school-based pre-K programs. The maximum number of children in any pre-K group is 20. The maximum child to staff ratio is 10:1, but a ratio of 6:1 is the preferred target. Whenever possible, the pre-K program collaborates with day care centers and Head Start programs.
The proposed program is for a two-year, intensive focused intervention for preschoolers from low-income families. Wrap-around childcare for working parents is a component of the program. The curriculum is research-based from proven pre-K programs, and includes engaging pre-school language development, reading, mathematics, and behavioral interventions that have been demonstrated to foster the academic and attentional skills of preschoolers.
Statement of Need
A disproportionate number of immigrant children have parents with limited fluency in English and little education, an issue that is particularly problematic for developing English proficiency when preschoolers are in the daily at-home presence of one parent. The low household incomes of immigrant families establish conditions that preclude purchasing high-quality preschool care. Moreover, undocumented status of parents discourages contact with public officials and the pursuit of complex paperwork to enroll their children in programs or apply for subsidies.
II. The Intervention Methods Used
The pre-K program is designed to comply with the cooperative learning framework utilized by Success for All programs, which is characterized by embedded motivating challenges and opportunities for rich language-building discussion. The fundamental curricula are enriched through the use of a variety of media, activities, and props.
The curiosity corner is designed to engage preschool children in theme-based creative activities that expand their vocabularies and build skills in art, math, music, science, and social behavior. The center is driven by activities that include cooperative learning, exploratory centers, hearing stories, making up stories and engaging in make-believe, playing games, reading circles, and singing songs. Educational videos are an integral part of the program, and the videos are viewed at school and at home with parents. The purpose of sharing the videos at home is to provide a home-school link that is focused on specific skill-building activities and the topics (letters, numbers, themes) of the week. The curiosity corner is structured around 20 thematic units that last for two-weeks. The thematic units enable the introduction of concepts that are reinforced by accompanying activities that underscore those concepts, followed by free time to engage with the concepts through other media, if desired.
III. Key Elements...
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