A MinnCAn issue Brief

This report was published in May 2011 by MinnCAN: The Minnesota Campaign for Achievement Now.

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CleAring A PAth to QuAlity Pre-K

table of Contents

introduction 4

1 Kindergarten-ready Means life-ready 5

2 too Many Minnesota Children lack Access to high-Quality Pre-K 8

3 Clearing a Path to Quality Pre-K: information Plus Choice 9

4 time to Act 12

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introductionChildren who have the chance to enroll in high-quality preschool pro-grams fare better in life, not just in school. Fifty years of research prove that students in high-quality preschool programs score significantly higher in reading and math when they enter school. Those children are less likely to drop out, repeat grades or need special education, and they are more likely to attend college.1

Regrettably, fifty years of research have not translated into change in Minnesota. Minnesota spends nearly $10,000 per child enrolled in state preschool programs, such as early childhood family education, school readiness, Head Start and prekindergarten exploratory projects—the second-highest amount in the country.2 But our children still have little access to high-quality preschools, and parents have few ways to iden-tify the best. Among all states that offer some type of pre-K program, Minnesota ranks last in providing access. In 2008–2009, fewer than two percent of our three- and four-year-olds were enrolled in a state-funded early education program, compared with nearly 15 percent nationally.3

Given the impact of early learning on later success in school and life, it is little wonder that our state has a deep, persistent achievement gap. And that gap is grim: on our current trajectory, for example, only three percent of African-American and American Indian ninth-graders in Minnesota will receive a bachelor’s degree by age 25.4

Minnesota can go a long way in addressing that gap with high-quality pre-K programs—not by throwing money at any type of pre-K, but by identifying and providing access to the top programs in the state.

We have broad bipartisan support for providing high-quality pre-K. Three-quarters of Minnesotans agree that the Legislature should make improving Minnesota’s ability to prepare children for school one of its top priorities, and 88 percent say this is an issue that demands biparti-san cooperation.5 A broad coalition of business leaders began the Min-nesota Early Learning Foundation in 2007, raising $20 million to create pilot programs that expand information, access and choice.

In this brief, we take a closer look at the research on early learning and its links to success later in life, and the serious shortcomings of Min-nesota’s current system. Then we offer solutions that arise from success-ful pilot programs, as well as research and experience from across the country. The solutions include better information for parents, scholar-ship programs to expand choices and incentives to reward Minnesotans who provide and support high-quality early-learning opportunities.

1 J.J. Heckman & D.V. Masterov, “The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children,” Review of Agri-cultural Economics (2007): 29(3), 446–493; J. Warren, “Economist’s Plan to Improve Schools Begins Before Kindergarten,” The New York Times (December 23, 2010); W.S. Barnett, Preschool Education and Its Lasting Effects: Research and Policy Implications (Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit, 2008); L.J. Schweinhart, H.V. Barnes, & D.P. Weikart (with W.S. Barnett and A.S. Epstein), Signifi-cant Benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 27. (Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press, 1993), retrieved from http://www.highscope.org/content.asp?content id=219.

2 D. LeMire, Universal Preschool [information brief]. Minnesota House of Representatives Research Department (September 2009), retrieved from http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/univpresch.pdf

3 National Institute for Early Education Research, The State of Preschool 2009, retrieved from http://nieer.org/yearbook/pdf/yearbook_MN.pdf

4 C. Meland, “Biz Leaders: MN Work Force Hinges on Educ. Reform.” Twin Cities Business (March 31, 2011), retrieved from http://tcbmag.blogs.com/daily_developments/2011/03/biz-leaders-mn-work-force-hinges -on-educ-reform.html

5 Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, Survey: 82% of Minnesotans want school readiness reforms now (Minneapolis, MN: Author, Winter 2010–11).

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Kindergarten-ready Means life-readyGreat pre-K starts learning off right. By about age five, the brain has reached 90 percent of its adult volume, creating 85 percent of the intellect, personality and skills that a child will take with him through life.6 Catch-ing children in these early years provides the basis for academic success.

Over decades, research from states and programs across the country has demonstrated the cognitive and social benefits that can result from participation in pre-K programs of high caliber, even beyond the elementary years.7

The landmark HighScope Perry Preschool study followed 123 low-income children who were considered at high risk for failure in school through adulthood. Fifty-eight kids were placed in a high-quality pre-school program for two years, while 65 received no schooling. The stu-dents who were placed in the high-quality program outperformed other students on school achievement and literacy tests through the age of 27.8 These children also graduated from high school at a much higher rate than those not in the program—77 versus 60 percent.

Meta-analyses of similar studies suggest that high-quality pre-K pro-grams can cut the school readiness gap between children in poverty and the national average in half.9

Other studies show similar results, especially for disadvantaged chil-dren.10 For example:

• A study of pre-K programs in Minnesota showed that low-income chil-dren, regardless of race, who enrolled in programs accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children performed at the same academic level as their more affluent peers and did better on a school readiness study, regardless of their parents’ education level.11

• A study of 111 children in a high-quality North Carolina full-day, year-round, birth-to-kindergarten program found that 67 percent of partici-pating children graduated from high school by age 19, compared with 51 percent for the control group. What’s more, 36 percent of children enrolled in the program attended a four-year college, versus 14 percent among those who did not enroll in the program.

Children who have the chance to enroll in high-quality preschool pro-grams fare better in life, not just in school. They are significantly more likely to be employed and financially stable, own a home, avoid drug use, stay out of jail and have lasting marriages.12 In the HighScope study, for example, 70 percent of men who took part in the program were employed at age 40, compared with 50 percent of those not in the program. Of the preschool group, 60 percent made more than $20,000 a year at age 40, compared with 40 percent of the non-preschool group. And of the men

6 National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2000).

7 A. Wat, The Case for Pre-K in Education Reform: A Summary of Program Evaluation Findings. (Washington, DC: Pre-K Now, Pew Center on the States, April 2010).

8 L.J. Schweinhart, J. Montie, Z. Xiang, W.S. Barnett, C.R. Belfield & M. Nores, The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40: Summary, Conclusions, and Frequently Asked Questions, High/Scope Educational Research Foundation (2005), retrieved from http://www.highscope.org/file/Research/PerryProject/3_special summary%20col%2006%2007.pdf

9 Barnett, Preschool Education and Its Lasting Effects.

10 Ibid.

11 Minnesota Department of Human Services, School Readiness in Child Care Settings: A Developmental Assessment of Children in 22 Accredited Child Care Centers (February 2005), retrieved from https://edocs.dhs.state.mn.us/lfserver/Legacy/DHS-4362-ENG

12 L.J. Schweinhart et al., Perry Preschool Study; Heckman & Masterov, “The Productivity Argument.”

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What is “high-Quality” Pre-K?

While several philosophies about measuring program quality exist at the pre-K level, two widely accepted approaches focus on process and structure.

Process quality focuses on what actually takes place in the pre-K classroom, looking for nurturing and stimulating teacher-child interactions and children’s activities.

health and safety provisions may also be considered here. trained observers generally measure process quality.

Structural quality considers the program’s structure and teacher quality, including teacher-child ratios, class sizes, teacher qualifications and teacher compensation.

MinnCAn 7CleAring A PAth to QuAlity Pre-K

Source: L.M. Espinosa, High-Quality Preschool: Why We Need it, and What it Looks Like (New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research, November 2002), retrieved from http:/nieer.org/resources/policybriefs/1.pdf

a high-quality pre-K program would:

1 Have positive, nurturing relationships between teachers and children

2 Be well-equipped with appropriate materials and toys that encourage children to communicate

3 Have teachers communicating throughout the day with children, both listening and responding to them, and encouraging children in problem-solving

4 Provide daily opportunities for art, music, movement, science, math, block play, sand, water and dramatic play

5 Encourage parents to be involved in all aspects of the program

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at age 40, 73 percent had savings accounts, compared with 36 percent among those who did not participate. Program participants in the North Carolina study were also more likely as young adults to have a skilled job and less likely to have been teen parents or to smoke marijuana.13

too Many Minnesota Children lack Access to high-Quality Pre-KMinnesota children’s access to high-quality preschool programs is among the lowest in the nation, and declining. Among the states that offer some type of pre-K program, Minnesota ranks last in providing access. In 2008–2009, only one-and-a-half percent of our three- and four-year-olds were enrolled in state-funded early education programs, compared with nearly 15 percent nationally. Fewer than 2,000 three- and four-year-olds attended a state-funded pre-K program in 2008–2009. If you add in special education programs, as well as federally- and state-funded Head Start programs, the number rises to just 18,500.14

When it comes to access, Minnesota falls behind nearly every other state in our region, including Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Oklahoma—where 87 percent of four-year-olds are enrolled in state pre-K, special education or Head Start programs.15 Worse still, Minnesota is going downhill, with enrollment of four-year-olds declining nearly 10 percent between 2001 and 2009.16

Lack of access to high-quality pre-K programs disproportionately affects children from low-income backgrounds and significantly contrib-utes to Minnesota’s yawning achievement gap. The chances of a child from a higher-income family being rated as “in process” or “proficient” on a state assessment are up to three times higher compared to one living in poverty.17 Today, half of low-income children in Minnesota fail to meet basic proficiency standards in reading and math. Many never catch up.

The gap begins early on and persists throughout the school-age years: For example, although Minnesota’s reading scores among fourth-graders are among the top in the country, our African-American students rank 37th. By eighth grade, we have a 34-point gap in reading between white and Afri-can-American students. In math, where Minnesota students overall score well, we have a 40-point gap between African-American and white eighth- graders, second-to-last in the country. The gap is even worse among our Latino students, only 13 percent of whom score at grade level in fourth-grade reading. By eighth grade, more than 80 percent of Latino students are unprepared to read grade-level material.18

13 D.W. James, S. Jurich & S. Estes, Raising Minority Academic Achievement: Abecedarian program (Washington, DC: American Youth Policy Forum, 2001), retrieved from http://www.aypf.org/publications/rmaa/pdfs/Abecedarian.pdf; Barnett, Preschool Education and Its Lasting Effects.

14 National Institute for Early Education Research, The State of Preschool 2009, 15–17, Tables 2 and 17.

15 National Institute for Early Education Research, The State of Preschool 2009.

16 Ibid.

17 Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota school readiness study: Developmental Assessment at Kindergarten Entrance, Fall 2009 Technical Report (April 2010), retrieved from http://education.state.mn.us/mdeprod/groups/EarlyLearning/documents/Report/017120.pdf

18 Institute of Education Sciences, Achievement Gaps: How Black and White Students in Public Schools Perform in Mathematics and Reading on the National Assessment of Edu-cational Progress, Statistical Analysis Report (2009), retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreport card/pdf/studies/2009455.pdf

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MinnCAn 9CleAring A PAth to QuAlity Pre-K

Failure to invest now results in greater long-term costs. Research confirms that beyond their contributions to academic and lifetime success, high-quality preschool programs can significantly reduce long-term costs to society, such as through reductions in crime and increases in earnings and home ownership. In Minnesota, the annual estimated cost burden of our children who enter kindergarten unprepared is $113 million every year.19 About $24.4 million of that comes from the increased need for special education services and a larger number of students who must repeat grades. $11 million comes from the estimated cost of serving English language learners who received no early education.

Clearing a Path to Quality Pre-K: information Plus ChoiceFortunately, research and experience with high-quality pre-K programs in other states provide a clear path forward to address Minnesota’s early ed-ucation shortcomings. Many business, community and education leaders agree on a two-pronged approach for improving pre-K in Minnesota. The two prongs are information and choice.

Providing better information for parents and consumers about quality programs

What if Minnesota parents could turn to a consumer-friendly rating system that led them to the state’s highest-quality early preschool programs? What if the rating system enabled them to recognize those programs that make real, measurable differences in kindergarten readiness?

That’s what’s happening now in Los Angeles County, where the non-profit Los Angeles Universal Preschool uses a five-star rating system and makes direct funding available only to those preschools that receive top ratings. Los Angeles Universal Preschool also provides support to help struggling programs improve. As a result, the percentage of students in high-quality programs who showed near-proficiency across all the “basic building blocks of readiness” increased from 22 to 72 percent in less than one year. The program also helped nearly close the gap between English language learners and their peers.20

Other states, including North Carolina, Ohio, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Louisiana and Tennessee, use similar star ratings, and many tie pro-grams’ public funding directly to results.21

Childcare providers know that parents pay attention to the stars, and they use it as a valuable marketing tool. “These days, the Internet is such a big factor in almost any sort of research, that when parents go to look

19 R. Chase, B. Coffee-Borden, P. Anton, C. Moore & J. Valorose, The Cost Burden to Minnesota K–12 When Children are Unprepared for Kindergarten (Saint Paul, MN: Wilder Research, December 2008), retrieved from http://www.wilder.org/download.0.html?report=2117

20 Applied Survey Research, The Successful Kids in Pre-K Project (SKIPP) phase II: An assessment of Los Angeles Universal Preschool students’ progression toward school readiness (San Jose, CA: Author, 2009), retrieved from http://www.appliedsurveyresearch.org/www/products/SKIPP_FINAL_REPORT -Phase2.pdf

21 North Carolina Division of Child Development, Search for Child Care Overview, retrieved from http://ncchildcare.dhhs.state.nc.us/parents/pr_sn2_ov_sr.asp; Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Child day care, retrieved from http://jfs.ohio.gov/cdc/stepUPQuality.stm

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for quality childcare, they begin by searching for five-star schools,” the director of one North Carolina program said.22

Research studies suggest that this approach improves parental choice and the overall quality of pre-K programs. For example:

• In North Carolina, the first state in the country to tie star ratings to state reimbursements, more providers are earning higher-rated li-censes, more caregivers are obtaining further education in their field, and overall program quality is steadily increasing—driven by parental demand. In 2010, 63 percent of children in pre-K attended four- and five-star programs, up from 33 percent in 2001.23

• In Oklahoma, ratings led to more children in high-quality programs, with all of the state’s two- and three-stars programs—the highest ratings pos-sible—filled.24

• In Ohio, the rating system led to an increase from 276 rated programs in 2007 to 880 in 2009. These programs serve 78,000 children, including 39 percent of children living at or below the poverty line.25

Similar successes could happen in Minnesota, too, where children five and younger spend an average of 27 hours each week in childcare. A pilot program here has shown how well a rating system could work for parents who now have few ways to judge which preschools offer the most for their children. In 2007, the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation began Parent Aware, an online, voluntary system that rates childcare providers—including licensed family childcare programs, childcare centers, Head Start and School Readiness programs—in four communities, including Minneapolis and Saint Paul. By 2010, 339 programs, serving nearly 22,000 children, were on board—all of which are now held accountable for their quality through information shared publicly.

Using the programs’ documentation of their services and objec-tive documentation by trained outside observers, Parent Aware incor-porates the best elements of similar programs in other states to award each program between one and four stars. Star ratings are based on four categories shown to significantly influence children’s school readiness: family partnerships, teaching materials and strategies, tracking learning, and teacher training and education. Programs that do not receive four stars get support—both financial and from consultants—to improve their quality.26

Expanding the pilot Parent Aware program to the entire state would make a huge difference to parents, many of whom have little more to go on than proximity or instinct when choosing a preschool. By requiring public funds to follow the ratings, awarding more to providers who offer high-quality services to low-income children, Minnesota could build on the initial success of Parent Aware by actively encouraging all programs to improve.27

22 K. Alley (n.d.) “North Carolina Child Care Star Rating System Explained,” Carolina Parent,, retrieved from http://www.carolinaparent.com/articlemain.php?North-Carolina-Child-Care -Star-Rating-System-Explained-686

23 NC Child Care Coalition, Star Rating System, retrieved from http://www.ncearlychildhoodassoc .com/_files/coalitionfactsht _starratinig_2_3_11.pdf

24 G.L. Zellman & M. Perlman, Child-Care Quality Rating and Improvement Systems in Five Pioneer States: Implementation Issues and Lessons Learned (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Education [prepared for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and United Way America], 2008), retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG795.html

25 Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Step Up to Quality Progress Report: July 2008–June 2009, retrieved from http://www.4cforchildren.org/pdf/SUTQAnnualReport09.pdf

26 Minnesota Early Learning Foun-dation, Parent Aware: Minnesota’s Quality Rating and Improvement System Pilot: Summary of the Parent Aware Year 3 Evaluation Report (2010), retrieved from http://www.melf.us/vertical/sites/%7b3d4b6dda-94f7-44a4 -899d-3267cbeb798b%7d/uploads/ %7b71913dc2-a5e4-461c-ad63-fe16c 1dedd7c%7d.pdf

27 Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, Minnesota Business Leaders Call for Sweeping Early Learning Reforms [press release] (December 8, 2010), retrieved from http://www.melf.us/vertical/Sites/%7b3d4b6dda-94f7-44a4 -899d-3267cbeb798b%7d/uploads/ %7b70d23d12-25d9-4dd9-929c -26122a0f7b2c%7d.pdf

Ensuring access to high-quality programs

Transparency and a focus on quality offer parents crucial information. But for families most in need, information is not enough. A recent survey of Minnesota parents found that 29 percent had to “take whatever child care arrangement they could get,” with 38 percent of minority parents and an equal number of low-income parents feeling an acute lack of choice in preschool care.28

Another successful pilot program in Minnesota, the Saint Paul Early Childhood Scholarship Program, provides mentors who make home visits to help families choose, pay for and stay in high-quality early child-hood education programs. Eligible children receive two-year scholar-ships—which can be more than $13,000 a year—for full- or part-time care.29

In 2008, about 500 children received parent mentoring and/or schol-arships through this program, and 177 children used them to enroll in an early childhood program. Nearly half of the children were English language learners. Thirty-three percent of the children were African-American and 24 percent were Asian-American. Almost three-fourths of the families had incomes below 100 percent of the federal poverty guide-lines.30

Along with helping children, the program offers major benefits to providers. In a survey, 74 percent of providers said they used scholar-ship funds to support quality improvements. Fifty-six percent of provid-ers used scholarship funds to serve children with different demographic characteristics, such as recent immigrants. Forty-eight percent used the funds to increase their hours.31

time to ActResearch and experience from across the country have made Minne-sota’s needs and path forward abundantly clear. High-quality preschool programs provide benefits that substantially exceed costs, making them worthwhile public investments.32

We must act on the proven research and pilot programs to broaden access and improve the quality of preschool in Minnesota by enacting two commonsense policies this year:

• Expand Parent Aware across Minnesota, which would provide crucial in-formation about quality to parents to inform better choices. Parent Aware would also create pressure for improvements in the quality of providers. In addition, by linking public funds to individual program ratings, Minnesota could ensure that its limited funds are going only to support providers that offer high-quality services, especially to those children most in need.

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28 Minnesota Department of Human Services, Child Care Usein Minnesota: 2004 Statewide Household Child Care Survey (November 2005), retrieved from http://www.wilder.org/download.0.html?report=1873

29 Participating families must live in certain neighborhoods and have an annual income that is less than 185 percent of the federal poverty guideline (about $38,000 for a family of four). At the same time that the funds may ease low-income families’ instability, children who get scholarships also may keep them even if they move within the participating counties or if their family income changes, unlike other subsidies. City of St. Paul (n.d.), Scholarships Overview, retrieved from http://www.stpaul.gov/index.aspx?NID=318 30 Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, Saint Paul Early Childhood Scholarship Program: Summary of Annual Report (March 2009), retrieved from http://www.melf.us/vertical/sites/%7b3d4b6dda-94f7 -44a4-899d-3267cbeb798b%7d/uploads/%7b3d934f12-4eaa-4bc2 -9d87-55cdb858d526%7d.pdf 31 Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, Saint Paul Early Childhood Scholarship Program: Uses and Benefits of Scholarship Funds (February 2011), retrieved from http://www.melf.us/vertical/sites/%7b3d4b6dda-94f7-44a4 -899d-3267cbeb798b%7d/uploads/ %7b5a3a903c-05ee-4109-a128-fb57 11761187%7d.pdf

32 Barnett, Preschool Education and Its Lasting Effects.

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33 Minnesota Early Learning Foundation, Minnesota Business Leaders Call for Sweeping Early Learning Reforms.

MinnCAnCleAring A PAth to QuAlity Pre-K

• Expand access to high-quality programs through a combination of finan-cial incentives for qualifying families and programs. Reforms proposed by a broad coalition of Minnesota business leaders would include schol-arships for children of low-income families to attend top-rated programs; tax credits to provide better training, stability and income for employees of preschool programs; as well as tax credits for independent donors, to encourage private donations that expand parents’ access.33

Inherent in both of these proposals is support for existing providers, both public and private. The state does not want to take over the job of providing or demanding universal preschool education, or of pushing private providers out. Using tax credits and a voluntary system to improve high-quality options, plus scholarships for disadvantaged chil-dren, will ensure that Minnesota’s children get the start they deserve in their early years.

Minnesota policymakers have heard the broad, bipartisan and business community support for vastly better early education options, and now they need to respond by improving our information, choice and access to high-quality programs. Star ratings from Parent Aware provide the snapshot all Minnesota parents could rely on to make better-informed choices on early-learning programs. Add scholarships, mentoring and tax credits for provid-er training and private donations, and Minnesota can make a quick leap up to lead the country in access to high-quality preschool.

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About MinnCAnMinnesota’s achievement gap—the persistent and significant disparity between the academic achievement of low-income and minority children and their white, middle-class peers—is the most urgent social and eco-nomic problem facing our state. We have one of the country’s largest achievement gaps between rich and poor kids and African-American and white kids. Each and every one of us is paying the price for our failing public schools. But Minnesota, and the entire nation, was built on the promise of universal education for all. Public schools are the corner-stone of our democracy. Our future is inextricably linked to the educa-tion of our children—all of them. MinnCAN is building a new movement of concerned citizens advocating to fundamentally reform our public schools through smart public policies. We will not rest until every Min-nesota child, regardless of race, ethnicity, or class, has access to a great public school.

WWW.MinnCAn.org