Research shows that high-quality preschool education has the power to positively impact a child’s growth and development, even far into adulthood. However, as costs increase and high demand creates long wait times, many children across the country are unable to access high-quality early learning options. State Transition to Kindergarten (TK) programs offer free, full-day education to four year olds and aim to narrow these gaps.
As Washington State’s TK program grapples with budget shortfalls and debate about its impact, Ford School faculty draw lessons from their research on Michigan’s TK program in an opinion for The Spokesman-Review.
Christina Weiland, Karl and Martha Kohn Professor of Social Policy, along with Brian Jacob, Walter H. Annenberg Professor of Education Policy, and Jordan Berne, an Institute of Education Sciences predoctoral fellow at the Education Policy Initiative—who are all affiliated with the Ford School’s Education Policy Initiative—have been researching Michigan’s TK program since 2019. They have found that Michigan TK has significantly expanded early learning options for families and has large effects on kindergarten readiness and effects on math last through the end of third grade.
Using lessons learned from their findings, the researchers address three issues:
- High demand lessens crowd-out concerns. Some are concerned that TK programs will crowd-out other early learning programs in the state. “As TK expanded in Michigan, some children did switch from Michigan’s state-funded Pre-K program into TK. But other children quickly took up the newly open slots, resulting in more children in the state overall enrolled in early education programs. As in Michigan, significant numbers of Washington children don’t attend any kind of preschool,” they write.
- Opt-in policies may leave out less resourced communities. The researchers encourage the Washington Legislature to consider lesser-resourced communities, as they are less likely to opt-in to TK programs. They suggest that Washington should “lead nationally in offering training, information, and technical assistance for less-resourced communities to start TK programs.”
- High-quality curricula are key to boosting outcomes. Using data from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy, they noted that “about 43% of Washington TK programs in 2022-23 used curricula that underdeliver in boosting children’s learning compared to other options.” The Washington Legislature should therefore focus on providing a high-quality TK experience.
- Rigorous evaluation can help ensure viability as it expands. The authors note the importance of ongoing independent evaluations on the impact of the programming on the early learning landscape and on children’s learning, along with studies of its quality.
The researchers applaud Washington’s Legislature for its careful attention to TK and childhood learning, especially in a fiscally difficult time. “Moving more young children in Washington to opportunity is a smart investment in the state’s future—a future in which it is increasingly clear that TK has a role to play.”
>>Read the full op-ed in The Spokesman Review here.
