Is Quality Preschool Good Enough?

Writing in the latest Education Next, UVA's Robert Pianta notes research showing that high-quality preschool classrooms can significantly narrow achievement and behavior gaps for at-risk 4-year-olds. But, he cautions, other research finds that:

Most children in pre-K, kindergarten, and grade 1 classrooms are exposed to quite low levels of instructional support and only moderate levels of social and emotional supports--levels that are not as high as those in the gap-closing, effective classrooms...

What's more, there is great variation in the quality of experiences and supports for children even within programs that meet the standards that are generally recognized as being necessary for preschool quality--small class sizes, credentialed teachers, and the like.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that there is huge variation in children's experiences in preschool classes that meet similar quality standards. After all, virtually all K-12 teachers have bachelor's degrees and most are certified, but there's tremendous variation in the educational outcomes they produce for kids. A bachelor's degree might be a reasonable floor, but it's hardly a guarantee of effectiveness. Non-tangible or hard-to-measure teacher characteristics (and other characteristics of preschool programs) also matter a lot. That's why regulating inputs alone is never going to be sufficient to ensure quality, either in K-12 or preschool. We also have to look at outcomes in some fashion. Now, we can argue about different ways of measuring outcomes--although I think most reasonable people will probably agree that the way we measure outcomes for little kids will probably look different than it does for bigger kids--but that doesn't change the basic conclusion here.

Also, on a sort-of-but-not-really related note (Shameless Plug Alert!): While you're checking out the latest Ed Next, have a look at this piece I wrote on NCLB restructuring.