Pre-k pilot holds promise for all S.D.

An independent evaluator has given high marks to the second of a three-year pre-kindergarten pilot for at-risk children in Sioux Falls.

The benefits of the program could be far-reaching, according to one state lawmaker, as other communities build on the model being assessed in Sioux Falls. "This pilot project, designed in South Dakota for South Dakota children, means low-income children grow strong, ready to succeed in school," said Assistant Senate Majority Leader Tom Dempster. "This is exciting."

Dr. Gera Jacobs, a researcher at the University of South Dakota, reports statistically significant growth among the 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in the Starting Strong Pre-kindergarten Pilot. Children who had been in the program during Year 1 and continued into Year 2 were assessed at the beginning and end of each year. Three-year-olds who entered the program in Fall 2008 were also assessed.

The average age of children beginning the program was 3 years, 4 months. At entry their average developmental abilities (2 years, 6 months) were well below their chronological age, in some cases, Jacobs notes, up to 10 months behind.

Average increases among children who began the program in Fall 2008 and finished their first year in Spring 2009 follow:

• Early literacy skills: 11.8 month average gain;
  
• Early number skills: 10.0 month average gain;
  
• Receptive (listening/understanding) language: 7.7 month average gain;
  
• Expressive (speaking) language: 10.1 month average gain.
  
  Average increases among 4-year-old children who participated in both the first and second year are as follows:
  
  
• Early literacy skills: 22.9 month average gain;
  
• Early number skills: 22.5 month average gain;
  
• Receptive (listening/understanding) language: 23.8 month average gain;
  
• Expressive (speaking) language: 19.8 month average gain.

"These children who are at-risk started the program significantly behind their peers and without a quality program would be likely stay behind," Jacobs says. "This program has brought them to the point where they will able to start kindergarten ready to succeed."

She explains that each of the eight classrooms hosting preschool children in the Starting Strong pilot was observed using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). "The pilot showed statistically significant growth in classroom quality, which research has shown leads to increased learning for children," Jacobs says.

Similar research will be conducted in the third and final year of the pilot.

Funded by the Governor's Future Fund, Sioux Empire United Way and Forward Sioux Falls, the Starting Strong pilot began in late-August 2007 with space for 85 3-year-olds. In the second year of the program, an additional 60 openings per year were funded.

The program grew out of the Sioux Falls Business-Education-Civic Leadership Group on Early Care and Education convened in 2005 by South Dakota Voices for Children in response to Sioux Falls Tomorrow II?s education goal, which called for giving all children in the Sioux Falls area access to high quality pre-kindergarten and child care at all age levels.

Ron Moquist, CEO of Raven Industries, has chaired the Business-Education-Civic Leadership Group since its beginning. He has long championed the benefits of quality pre-k programs for at-risk kids. "All children deserve the opportunity to start school ready to learn," he says, adding that when they begin kindergarten, many youngsters from low-income, at-risk families start school behind. "Many never catch up."

Research bears him out. Eighty-five percent of a child's core brain structure is formed by the third birthday. By age 5, pre-reading, language and math foundations are in place.

"Society pays in many ways when children fail," Moquist says. Those who lack the skills to get a good job are more likely to become teen parents, use drugs, commit crimes and land in prison. Society, he maintains, has a choice. Invest now or invest later.

The Year 1 and Year 2 independent evaluations affirm the effectiveness of the pre-k pilot. Without it, those children would likely have struggled in kindergarten. "Now," Moquist said, "they're ready to succeed."

"We can invest in early education programs for these at-risk kids or we can invest in more police, drug rehabilitation and prisons."

The program is market-based and includes private and public providers who meet quality standards. Parents of eligible children choose to participate and they make the choice of provider.

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