Effective Strategies for Prekindergarten Expansion: Collaboration With Community Providers

By Steffanie Clothier, NCSL

December, 2006

As state leaders develop or expand state prekindergarten programs, they face the challenge of how best to deliver the services to children. Decisions about prekindergarten delivery have implications for the capacity of state prekindergarten programs to expand to serve more children, how quality standards are implemented and monitored, what resources are needed to assist providers, and the availability of options for parents to choose between school or non-school settings for their children. This policy brief examines the benefits and challenges of implementing a mixed delivery system for prekindergarten that incorporates not only schoolbased providers but also non-school or community providers. State statutory approaches and best practices in states will also be described. Non-school providers can include private child care and Head Start, faith-based child care centers, state colleges, military bases, nonprofit organizations, tribal organizations, public housing authorities, or family child care providers.1 In this policy brief, “prekindergarten” refers to programs for preschool-age children that are funded by states to promote early learning.

Early education has been a source of great interest to state leaders. In the four decades since Head Start was launched, state leaders have wrestled with how to support children’s readiness to learn. Today, 40 states and the District of Columbia offer state-funded prekindergarten, and at least 17 states provide funding supplements to Head Start. Much of state consideration of prekindergarten has come as a result of strong research findings that high-quality early education has significant short- and long-term benefits for children and society. Recent cost benefit analyses show that early education programs are one of the best public investments available to states. Evaluation and economic data are of interest to lawmakers who are focusing on effective investments for state funds.

In addition to findings from research, state leaders are responding to the realities of today’s family characteristics and to federal and state policy pressures. More women with young children are in the workforce than in previous decades, and many children spend full work-day hours in the care of others. As a result, early education policy options are being considered in the context of the needs of working families. In addition, state leaders face continuing pressure to meet the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act. With research, demographic and policy factors, many lawmakers have moved ahead in making prekindergarten one of the states’ priorities in early learning.

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For more information, please contact NCSL's Child Care and Early Education project staff, Steffanie Clothier, Julie Poppe or Caroline Smith at 303.364.7700 or cyf-info@ncsl.org.