More than half of Pennsylvania 3- and 4-year-olds don’t have access to public preschool programs, even with slow-but-steady state funding increases over the past several years.
However, the evaluation kids found kids who attended Pre-K Counts saw no gain in literacy, executive function, or social skills.
“I think that speaks to perhaps some areas for the Pre-K Counts program to look at in terms of professional development,” Peisner-Feinberg said, adding that elementary schools should also consider retooling kindergarten curriculums to better build on the pre-K experience.
The report also found no difference in progress between kids who attended Pre-K Counts for two years, and those who attended for just one year.
That’s likely because most Pre-K Count programs provide the same experience regardless of how long the child has been attending: data from a survey of program administrators included as part of the evaluation showed there was little difference in curriculum or instruction based on age group.