Percentage of 3- and 4-Year-Olds Enrolled in Preschool Programs or Kindergarten Programs
What is this measure, and why is this measure important? The data for this indicator represent the percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds in preschool or kindergarten programs. It is important to monitor the percentage of particular subgroups in preschool education to ensure that children from low-income or minority populations have access to preschool programs. The measure is presented by age, race/ethnicity, state rank, age by state rank and race/ethnicity by state rank.
What are the policy issues associated with this measure? Preschool or kindergarten programs help individuals develop a variety of skills that will contribute to a productive workforce in the future.1 In an effort to assess the relationship between the quality of preschool education and later academic and life outcomes, the Early Learning Challenge Fund2 provides funding to support states in building a longitudinal data system to track the educational progress of students. In addition, the Data Quality Campaign3 is another organization committed to providing guidance and training in the use of the longitudinal data systems. The goals of the longitudinal data systems are to link preschool to workforce systems, but many states have only just adopted the basic elements needed to adequately track individuals through these systems. Policymakers need to appreciate that even once these systems are in place, it may take many years before there are enough data to evaluate the efficacy of preschool on college and career outcomes. The knowledge of these outcomes requires a sustained commitment and likely additional funding to create shorter term research agendas with which to address these questions.
When interpreting this measure, what should be kept in mind? The information in this indicator describes the proportion of 3- and 4-year-olds in a preschool or kindergarten program. These data are not detailed enough to parse out enrollment in preschool programs versus that of kindergarten programs. In addition, there are a variety of preschool or kindergarten programs, each with a different focus. The foci of the program may include but are not limited to the following topics or approaches to teaching: child/play-centered, teacher-directed/academic, cooperative, Montessori, Reggio Emilia and Waldorf.4 Families are given the opportunity to choose which program may work best for their child. Some families may be limited by their selection because of cost, distance, transportation or other competing values. Finally, the data presented in this measure are from the American Community Survey and are based on three-year estimates, which mean they represent the characteristics of the population from 2006-08. These estimates are available over one year, three years or five years. The three-year estimates are more precise than the one-year estimates and more current than the five-year estimates. The three-year estimates also have a larger sample size than the one-year estimates. Use of the three-year estimates reduces the size of sampling errors, which lead to more stable estimates than the one-year estimates.
1 Campbell, F. A., Pungello, E. P., Miller-Johnson, S., Burchinal, M., and Ramey, C. T. (2001). The Development of Cognitive and Academic Abilities: Growth Curves from an Early Childhood Educational Experiment, Developmental Psychology, 37(2), 231–242.
2 The Early Learning Challenge Fund. Retrieved May 6, 2011, from http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/earlylearning/elcf-factsheet.html
3 The Data Quality Campaign. Retrieved June 1, 2011, from http://www.dataqualitycampaign.org/
4 Wana, J. (2010). How to choose the best preschool for your child: The ultimate guide to finding, getting into, and preparing for nursery school (Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc.).