Pre-K Expansion Measure's Varying Standards Faulted

Early childhood experts and parents expressed support yesterday for a measure before the D.C. Council that would extend pre-kindergarten programs to 2,000 more 3- and 4-year-olds in the city.

Although researchers and education advocates at the council hearing agreed that pre-K can boost academic achievement in later years, debate centered on what constitutes a high-quality program for D.C. students.

A provision in the measure, introduced last month by council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D), would require pre-K teachers in traditional public schools, charters and new community-based programs funded through the proposal to have a bachelor's degree in early childhood education, child development or family studies immediately. Teachers in existing community-based programs would not be required to have their bachelor's degrees until 2014.

That point drew opposition.

"Pre-K teachers with BA degrees achieve better results," said Libby Doggett, executive director of Pre-K Now, which is advocating for expanded early childhood programs in the city. "Permitting some classrooms to do it one way and others to do it another way is the wrong approach," she added.

Council member Kwame R. Brown (D-At Large) said he thinks that the measure should set high standards for teachers and curricula that apply to all programs. "Why should we have some students in classrooms with lower standards?" Brown asked in an interview.

The provision was included to account for the extra time it usually takes pre-K teachers in community programs to receive their bachelor's degrees, said Carol Brunson Day, president of the National Black Child Development Institute. The institute sponsors an initiative called Pre-K for All DC, which helped Gray craft his bill.

Council members, who could revise the measure based on comments at the hearing, are expected to take a preliminary vote next month.

The measure is aimed at giving the troubled school system another tool to boost lackluster student achievement. Education experts say that many low-income students arrive in kindergarten already behind, unfamiliar with the alphabet and numbers, because they lack family support.

Under the bill, the city would spend an estimated $50 million a year to add about 125 pre-K classes for 2,000 new students and improve services in 125 more classes. Currently, 12,000 children in the city are enrolled in pre-K. Most attend class in traditional public schools and charters, advocates said.

"I do think, especially for those young children in poverty status, this has been needed for a long time," council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) said at the hearing.

Craig T. Ramey, director of the Center for Health and Education at Georgetown University, cited studies in Louisiana and Maryland that showed pre-K students performed better on high-stakes tests than peers who did not attend such programs. The outperforming students were also less likely to be kept back or be referred for special-education services, he added.

Their mothers also benefited. They "were more likely to return to school [to finish high school] when their child went to kindergarten and [more likely to be] employed and employed in a higher-status job," he added.

Gray noted that although preschool programs have been around in the District for more than 30 years, student achievement has dropped during that time. Barbara T. Bowman, who is chief officer in the Chicago school district's early childhood education office and who testified in favor of an expanded D.C. program, speculated that not enough families are taking advantage of the classes and that the curricula in some programs may not be up to date.