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Georgia has had a Pre-K program in place since 1993 with a
cost of 1.15 billion dollars and an enrollment of over
300,000 students. The
results after thirteen (13) years show little change in
reading scores either before or after the program began.
In fact, Georgia has a graduation rate of only fifty six
percent (56%) which is worse than Tennessee’s sixty
percent (60%) graduation rate. Georgia scored
in the bottom ten percent (10%) in U.S. reading scores
along with Oklahoma, another state with a Pre-K plan.
Those states with the highest scores did not have
any government Pre-K plans.
Educators
hold the French model as an example of what our Pre-K
education should be like.
Since the French already have a Pre-K program, it
should make sense that they should outscore our fourth
graders in international tests.
The fact is that U.S. students routinely outscore
the French by as much as seventeen (17) points in reading
tests. Even
as bad as our fifteen year old students do in
international tests, the French only outscore the U.S. by
one point in reading.
Head Start conducted studies and found that there were very little lasting benefits of Pre-K on students. Any benefit “fades out” by the third grade. Similar results were also found in a study by the University of California Santa Barbara while evaluating California’s proposed Pre-K plan. The National Center for Education Statistics Longitudinal Study (U.S. Department of Education) conducted two studies of over 22,000 students attending full and half day kindergarten. These studies also proved that “fade out” existed even with those attending kindergarten and any benefit was also gone by the third grade. Another study by Stanford-UC-Berkeley involving 14,000 students shows that some detrimental effects actually occur with Pre-K programs in the area of social development. Some of these results show a decrease in rates of social-emotional growth and motivation to engage in classroom tasks. In a poll taken from kindergarten teachers, only ten percent (10%) believed that knowing your alphabet and numbers was very important for being ready for kindergarten. The two items listed as most important were good health and an eagerness to learn.
Since
1965, there has been a steady increase in the percentage
of students attending Pre-K.
This increase has gone from sixteen percent (16%)
in 1965 to the current number of sixty six percent (66%). With
this increase in the number of Pre-K students, it would
seem that reading scores for seventeen year old students
would increase. They
have not. In
fact, reading scores for seventeen year olds are the same
now as they were in 1971.
The problem with our education system is that it is outdated. According to a Gates Foundation study, our schools are based on a 1900s economy. The problem is that we are in the 21st century and this model of education does not work any more. Middle and high school are where changes must be made. The reasons students gave most for dropping out of school were that they were bored and that the classes were not interesting. Another sixty nine percent (69%) stated that they were not motivated or inspired to work hard. U.S. students perform progressively worse the longer they are in school. We must reorganize our high schools into small, more focused schools. Schools that stress science, math, engineering, and the arts can be formed to help students have a better environment. Since these schools will be smaller (about 400 students), teachers will also be able to help their students better. This will also help alleviate some of the teacher shortages in areas such as math as it has a more focused approach to learning. We will not have to tear down or build any new facilities to accomplish this. We simply can have schools within schools.
We must also change the curriculum to better match college course work to the student’s field of interest. In Tennessee only forty five percent (45%) of those attending college will graduate. Tennessee is also ranked low in the U.S. in the number of college graduates living in the state (44th). Seventy-five percent (75%) of Tennesseans have either a high school diploma or less education level. Fifty three percent (53%) of Tennesseans fall in the lowest two levels of literacy. If we are to have any hope of attracting high tech businesses to Tennessee, we must have a people capable of being able to do the work. It is estimated by 2020 that there will be a shortage of 14 million workers that will need college degrees. Further studies show that one-third of all new jobs will require at least some level of college. With the flood of illegals immigrants coming into the state, this will further drive down the cost of current wages for non-degreed jobs such as in manufacturing and construction. Other issues that also need to be addressed is how long Pre-K will remain “voluntary,” what are the real costs going to be and how many private preschools will this program drive out of business?
Tennessee
has to have a world class education system.
Pre-K will not solve our education problems.
The fact is that it makes the problem worse by
wasting precious tax dollars and time.
Pre-K has not helped Georgia in the thirteen (13)
years it has been implemented and it will not help
Tennesseans. We
must address the real problems of education which are our
middle and high schools.
REFERENCES:
1
Cardiff, Christopher F. and Edward Stringham. Is
Universal Preschool Beneficial? An Assessment of RAND
Corporation’s Analysis and the Proposals for California.
Reason
Foundation.
2
Olsen, Darcy. Policy Report no.201, Assessing
Proposals for Preschool and Kindergarten: Essential
Information for Parents, Taxpayers, and Policymakers.
Goldwater Institute, pg 10-12.
3
Olsen, Darcy. Policy Report no.201, Assessing
Proposals for Preschool and Kindergarten: Essential
Information for Parents, Taxpayers, and Policymakers.
Goldwater Institute, pg 24-26.
4
Greene, Jay P. and Marcus A. Winters. Civic Report no.48, Leaving
Boys Behind: High School Graduation Rates. Manhattan
Institute.
5
Olsen, Darcy and Lisa Snell. Assessing Proposals For Preschool and Kindergarten. Reason
Foundation, pg. 29.
6
U.S. Student and
Adult Performance on International Assessments of
Educational
Achievement.
National Center for Educational Statistics.
U.S. Department of Education 2006.
7 Olsen,
Darcy. Policy
Report no.201, Assessing Proposals for Preschool and Kindergarten: Essential
Information for Parents, Taxpayers, and Policymakers.
Goldwater Institute, pg 23-24.
8
Olsen, Darcy and Lisa Snell. Assessing Proposals For Preschool and Kindergarten. Reason
Foundation, pg. 4.
9 Olsen,
Darcy. Policy Report no.201, Assessing
Proposals for Preschool and Kindergarten: Essential
Information for Parents, Taxpayers, and Policymakers.
Goldwater Institute, pg 10-12.
10
Xiaochin,
Lance T. and Claire Yan. No Magic Bullet, Top Ten Myths
about the Benefits of Government-Run Universal Preschool.
Pacific Research Institute, pg 11.
11
Olsen, Darcy
and Lisa Snell. Assessing
Proposals For Preschool and Kindergarten.
Reason Foundation, pg. 7
12
Olsen, Darcy.
Policy Report no.201, Assessing
Proposals for Preschool and Kindergarten: Essential
Information for Parents, Taxpayers, and Policymakers.
Goldwater Institute, pg 13
13
National Center for Educational Statistics,
Nations
Report Card 2004 Long Term Trend. U. S. Department of
Education.
14
High Schools for the
New Millennium, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, pg.
2.
15
The Silent Epidemic,
Perspectives of High School Dropouts, Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation.
16
High
Schools for the New Millennium, Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation.
17
Governor Bredesen, State of the State Address, February 7,
2006.
18
The Challenge Facing Our
Nation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
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