Colorado’s universal preschool program fails to address potential pitfalls

Based on recent studies that suggest pre-K programs can cause long-term harm, the jubilation over Colorado’s new universal preschool law may be premature.

The state’s governor, Jared Polis, signed the bill into law on Monday, calling it “another bold step forward in ensuring Colorado kids have access to free universal preschool.”

“There’s no better investment than education, which leads to a stronger, healthier and competitive workforce,” Polis said.

While everyone agrees with that sentiment (what’s not to like about education and a strong workforce?), many parents – and researchers – question the effectiveness of universal preschool.

Studies suggest state-run pre-K programs can lead to later problems such as lower academic performance, more diagnoses of learning disorders and higher rates of school violations.

Following the research

Proponents of universal preschool often argue that it provides a viable childcare alternative for low-income families.

However, consider the results from a long-running pre-K program in Tennessee. The program was designed to provide free preschool for children whose family income fell below the poverty level.

Vanderbuilt University researchers found that children from these state-run pre-K programs fared worse in school than their peers.

“While the study found positive short-term effects on child achievement (at the end of the pre-k year), these effects dissipated as children entered elementary school and turned modestly negative by third grade,” researchers concluded. “At the third-grade follow-up, the control group scored significantly higher in math and science achievement than the pre-k group.”

Those researchers conducted a follow-up survey that was published this year, with the drop in performance growing even more significant. Many media outlets, including NPR, expressed dismay over the findings.

“A statewide public pre-K program, taught by licensed teachers, housed in public schools, had a measurable and statistically significant negative effect on the children in this study,” the NPR article lamented.

What can be done to improve this? The researchers don’t provide a conclusive answer, but suggest that educators should focus more on play-based preschool strategies instead of placing so much emphasis on academic performance.

This is the approach taken in Finland, for example, where children have no formal introduction to academics until the relatively “late” age of 7 years.

However, Finnish students have ranked consistently high in math, reading and science on worldwide surveys such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

In light of the research, Colorado families may rightly ask their legislators to prove these programs will actually benefit preschoolers – not hurt them in future grades.