[V]ermont is in the midst of a soft rollout of a universal prekindergarten program, with a third of the state’s school districts testing the waters.
The launch is putting Act 166 into action, a state law that requires publicly funded education to be offered for at least 10 hours per week to all 3-year-olds to 5-year-olds who are not in kindergarten, for 35 weeks of the year. It was originally supposed to go into effect statewide this fall, but was delayed.
Next year, the rest of the school districts will participate, and Vermont will become the fourth state in the nation to implement universal pre-K.
“This is a huge leap forward for the state and the nation,” said Melissa Riegel-Garrett, pre-K coordinator for the Agency of Education.
Even though the program wasn’t adopted statewide in time for this school year – because the rules governing the program hadn’t been finalized in time for Town Meeting Day when towns voted on their budgets – she said the districts that plowed ahead are giving the state a chance to “recognize what holes we need to fill.”
Currently 62 school districts are executing pre-K plans and more than 300 programs have been pre-qualified to participate, according to Riegel-Garrett. (Each public school or private program offering pre-K is expected to apply to the AOE and Human Services for pre-qualification.)
Traci Sawyers, an early childhood health policy expert, said that offering pre-K in a “variety of settings such as center based, public schools, private programs and homes,” is a main strength of the state’s approach.
Studies show pre-K gives children a head start
The other states now providing for universal pre-K statewide are Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma.
Sawyers, who works at the nonprofit Building Bright Futures, said Vermont is using the experience of other states to build its program.
“These three [states] have been going for a long time and have found that the investment is worth it with regard to school readiness,” Sawyers said.
Florida’s program began 10 years ago and has been applauded for quickly providing access to early education for many children, but it has also come under fire for failing to ensure quality schooling, according to an EdPolicyWorks report.
Sawyers said that unlike Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma developed more gradually.
Georgia’s 20-year-old pre-K program is offered to all 4-year-olds. Last March, a study by the University of North Carolina found that children who participated scored higher in language, literacy and math tests than children who were not enrolled in pre-K.
Shortage of qualified teachers
Oklahoma’s legislation goes back to 1998, and the quality of the teaching staff has been one of the strengths of Oklahoma’s program. All pre-K teachers must have a college degree and certificate in early-childhood learning. One of the most significant features of the program is that the pre-K teachers are paid the same wages as a K-12 teacher.
Act 166, like Oklahoma’s law, requires pre-K teachers to have a valid Vermont educator’s license with an endorsement in either early childhood education or early childhood special education. Even if the program is being operated out of a family child care home, the operator needs to hold the license or contract with someone who will teach pre-K.
Already, Vermont is finding it difficult to identify enough licensed teachers to meet the demand.
“Our biggest challenge has been finding licensed teachers that want to be employed by community-based programs,” said Riegel-Garrett.
Of the 300 centers that have pre-qualified to run a pre-K program, 10 applications were denied mostly due to not having a licensed teacher on staff, according to Riegel-Garrett.
Another 25 of the programs that obtained prequalification are working with Vermont Birth to Five’s mentoring program for those with provisional teaching licenses this year.
Riegel-Garrett said she expects one more group to go this route with programs beginning next year.
The state is also using funds from the Early Learning Challenge Grants to work with higher education to develop alternative pathways to get teachers certified in early childhood education to build a larger pre-K teaching force. The federal funds are part of a $36.9 million four-year Race to the Top grant, meant to help build a high-quality early childhood education system in the state.
Salaries may thwart efforts
Pre-K teacher pay will continue to be a stumbling block for early childhood education in Vermont. “Until they can compete with public schools for salaries, it will always be a challenge to keep teachers in those programs,” admits Riegel-Garrett.
Sawyers says that without good pay, turnover will become an ongoing problem. “The number of children who can participate will depend on Vermont’s ability to recruit and pay qualified teachers. The problem is that wages do not pay well, therefore there is turnover.”
Most pre-K teachers across the nation – 71 percent – earn salaries in the low-income category of the federal poverty guidelines and many have to take on second jobs to make ends meet, according to a study led by Walter Gilliam at Yale University.
But Vermont’s law makes clear the state is serious about providing a quality early education that prepares each student for kindergarten. So, in addition to requiring programs to hire a certified teacher, the pre-qualification process mandates that programs are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) or that they maintain a minimum of four out of five stars in Vermont’s Step Ahead Recognition System (STARS).
Both certifications are based on nationally recognized standards and practices for early education.
Aligning to Common Core
The law also necessitates both public and private pre-K operators use a curriculum that is appropriate for the age of the children and aligned to Vermont’s Early Learning Standards.
Riegel-Garrett called this aspect of the pre-qualification process “extensive.” Applicants have to demonstrate how their curriculum aligns with each learning standard and offer examples of activities that will be used to teach the children the skills. “They are play-based expectations,” she added.
The state has aligned the learning standards for children birth through third grade to the Common Core curriculum for K-12 public education. The Kindergarten Readiness Survey is being updated to reflect the new standards.
State agencies to gauge quality
The Agency of Education and the Department for Children and Families together will monitor and evaluate the pre-K programs, which will be expected to improve the teaching quality by way of mentoring and training.
The agencies will report on whether students are learning enough of their ABCs and 123s to start school.
Using money from the Early Learning Challenge Grant, the state has contracted with an out-of-state agency to design a system to “monitor the quality day-to-day,” according to Riegel-Garrett.
She said that Oklahoma, Florida and Georgia’s evaluation methods are being used to model the design. Eventually, there will be an online database that allows users to see how children are doing at the school-district level and statewide.
Needs unmet for some
Still, Sawyers anticipates that some centers only offering 10 hours of instruction a week – when many families need care for their child during regular working hours – will become another challenge.
“This is something Vermont needs to work through. Most children’s parents work and 10 hours isn’t enough, so they will have to transition to another child care environment,” she said.
As a result, pre-K could become less accessible to working families.
“If a child is staying at home with a parent, the 10 hours works well for that kind of family,” Sawyers said, but if a family must have their child in a full-day program, “it will continue to be a barrier.”
The student outcomes would likely be better with more hours of instruction, said Sawyers, citing studies of a high-quality full-day Chicago program.
“It increases the likelihood that children from low-income backgrounds will succeed.
These programs have a significant impact on language acquisition and math skills – gains that continue through elementary school,” she said.
Both Riegel-Garrett and Sawyers say Act 166 is an important first step to providing all young children access to pre-K in the state. All of the pre-qualified programs “touch all the school districts in the state,” said Riegel-Garrett. That means that if a school district doesn’t have a program of their own, they can partner with one that does.
Pre-K students are less likely to be held back a grade, or diagnosed with learning disabilities, she said. Social and emotional skills – like self-control and concern for others – are also acquired through pre-K.
Though much work needs to be done, the new law will help build a universal system, Sawyers said. “To get to both the quality and access desired that prepares kids for school, and works for families, requires continuous political support and funding,” she said.
