More than a pittance for kids

THE LEGISLATURE has allocated a total of $23.8 million in the last three fiscal years for the state's pre-kindergarten pilot program - a miserly amount compared with the $600 million a year that preschool advocates say is needed for quality universal access. Yet there is evidence that even a miser's dime can reap a dollar's rewards.

An Abt Associates evaluation commissioned by the Department of Early Education and Care and released this week found that at 126 program sites, the funds are allowing preschool directors to bolster staff salaries, allow for more professional development, lower classroom child-teacher ratios, buy classroom materials, and deliver more comprehensive services.

Some local programs clearly have benefited from the infusion of the miser's dime. Though it would be of no surprise to anyone familiar with the thankless toil of teachers of young children, the Abt evaluation confirmed "staff are a critical, if not the most important feature in determining the quality of a program" - so important that staff needs require long-term planning and "cannot be met on a one-time basis."

Also not a surprise was that these low levels of funding sparked "a noticeable effect on morale and job satisfaction as well as staff retention of current teachers and providers." Some programs hand out a few thousand dollars in bonuses to teachers with bachelor's degrees. Sure enough, program directors are reporting that the bonuses inspire teachers with only associate's degrees to pursue a four-year diploma.

The evaluation said the vast majority of the state's universal pre-K pilot program grant recipients reported quality improvements across the board. There is no telling how quality would improve with anything remotely near $600 million a year. Quality standards for teachers and facilities need to be in place first, but with 4,400 children on waiting lists, the Universal Pre-Kindergarten bill that Governor Patrick signed in July has a long way to go to get to "universal."

Two weeks ago, British researchers in the journal Science reported that high-quality preschools, along with healthy home environments and effective primary schools, boost math achievement at age 10. The study of 2,558 children said the positive effects of both quality primary schools and preschools "were sufficiently large enough to be important for any government wishing to maximize education achievement."

That ought to make the rapid expansion of pre-K a high enough priority for Massachusetts to make universal access a reality. It should be the state's goal to see maximum results when these boys and girls turn 10.