Education for Four-Year-Olds: State Initiatives. Technical Report No. 2

摘要

One of the major educational policy shifts in recent years has been the establishment of state-funded prekindergarten programs in a number of states. Such a move seems to be driven, in part, by: evidence that many students are failing in the early grades, particularly children considered at risk; an increasing number of mothers in the workforce; welfare reform policies that require mothers to work and, therefore, find child care; and evidence of the importance of early childhood to later development. The research questions posed in the present study were: How did the states manage this distinctive shift in educational policy to prekindergarten. What were the major facilitators and major barriers to be overcome, and the particular strategies that appeared to be useful in achieving this result. It was noted that such a policy change was being accomplished despite the known difficulty of instituting change in bureaucratic systems and the hidden power of the status quo in resisting change. Five states were chosen (Georgia, Illinois, New York, South Carolina, and Texas) on the basis of previous surveys that determined that these states were making substantial progress in establishing a prekindergarten program in their state.