RALEIGH (June 12, 2019) – We’re finally starting to get it: Improved student performance starts well before kindergarten. And that means getting more 4-year-olds into high-quality pre-kindergarten.

Recent research indicates that the benefits of quality Pre-K prepare a child for academic success at least through eighth grade. For several years now, academics and business executives alike have warned that North Carolina offers high-quality pre-school, known as NC Pre-K, but not enough children get it.

Speaking to an NC Chamber conference in 2017, Jim Hansen, Regional President of PNC Bank, reported that U.S. News & World Report ranked North Carolina 1st in the nation in pre-kindergarten quality – yet 41st in enrollment.¹

Early this year, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University released a report that said state-funded NC Pre-K reaches only 47% of the eligible children – and 53%, or nearly 33,000 4-year-olds, don’t have access to it.²

Even when the state provided funds for 1,750 additional 4-year-olds in 2017, 44 counties declined the additional money. And 34 counties declined state help when funds for another 1,775 children became available in 2018.³

NIEER found that those and other counties struggle to expand NC Pre-K. Those struggles are tied to how the state funds the program – the state covers 60% of the costs, and counties must cover 40%. Many counties also find it challenging to hire qualified teachers, pay transportation costs or find classroom space.

A later NIEER report showed that enrollment in NC Pre-K has remained at 21-24% of all the state’s 4-year-olds since 2008, ranking 27th among the 44 states that provide pre-kindergarten. 

Meanwhile, Florida enrolls 77% of its 4-year-olds. Oklahoma enrolls 74%. Georgia enrolls 61%.

The report notes that state legislators agreed last year to increase state support by $9 million a year from 2017-18 through 2020-21 in an effort to increase the number of children served.⁴ With these increases, roughly 50% of eligible children should be enrolled by 2021.

Meanwhile, a 15-year Duke University study of more than 1 million students released in December 2018 found that participation in NC Pre-K resulted in improved math and reading scores, reduced placement in special education and reduced probability of repeating grades at least through 8th grade.⁵

The research demonstrates how NC Pre-K lays the foundation for third-grade reading, eighth-grade math and success throughout the K-12 System – important factors in college preparedness.

For the same reasons, the business community supports increased access. A group of North Carolina CEOs, including Hansen of PNC Bank, Jim Whitehurst of Red Hat, Medical Mutual Holdings CEO Dale Jenkins and SAS CEO Jim Goodnight – hardly a group of liberal hand-wringers – have pushed for the state to expand NC Pre-K. They’ve been joined by the NC Chamber of Commerce and NC Bankers Association. 

The CEOs note that legislators have traditionally focused on eliminating whatever waiting list exists for NC Pre-K – but that’s a somewhat arbitrary goal, since many families simply aren’t aware of NC Pre-K or Pre-K slots aren’t available in their county.

The CEOs say 75% of the eligible population should be the goal.⁶

And in addition to the increased state funds that aim to enroll 3,000 more 4-year-olds by 2021, legislators appear to be hearing them.

A study released last month by the NC General Assembly’s Program Evaluation Division examined 12 school systems where a majority of students are considered economically disadvantaged, yet their students post above-average academic performance. Five of the school systems are in North Carolina.

The study found that most of the difference in academic performance between high-achieving and lower-achieving school districts is already present by the time students are in third grade.

Significantly, all 12 of the districts place an emphasis on early education – particularly high-quality pre-kindergarten.

And in North Carolina, the legislative researchers found that in four of the five school systems that are predominantly disadvantaged but produce above-average performance, at least 75% of eligible students participate in the NC Pre-K program for 4-year-olds.

As a result, the report’s title says it all:

“North Carolina Should Focus on Early Childhood Learning in Order to Raise Achievement in Predominantly Disadvantaged School Districts.”⁷

Slowly, legislators appear to be embracing the goal of enrolling 75% of eligible children.

HB 886 recognizes the need to enroll 75% of eligible children in every county, orders a county-by-county study of the challenges to expanding Pre-K, and directs that the findings be used to modify how the state funds NC Pre-K.

The bill passed the NC House last month and is due to be considered in the Senate in the coming days.

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¹https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2017/08/pre-k-investment/. ²http://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/NIEER_North_Carolina_2019.pdf, p. 2.
³https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2019/01/nc-pre-k-report/;  http://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/NIEER_North_Carolina_2019.pdf.
⁴http://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/YB2018_Full-ReportR2.pdf, pp. 10, 23, 130.
⁵https://childandfamilypolicy.duke.edu/resources/publications/; Executive Summary: https://m.box.com/shared_item/https%3A%2F%2Fduke.box.com%2Fs%2Fpw3zv27a2jkmfas2j183yg4ekamxzl8y; https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article224198460.html.
⁶https://hew.aveltsagency.com/2019/01/nc-pre-k-report/.
⁷https://www.ncleg.net/PED/Reports/documents/Disadvantaged_Schools/DisadvantagedSchools_Report.pdf. In North Carolina, the five districts studied were the Alleghany County School District, Hickory Public Schools, Jones County Public Schools, Wilkes County Schools and Whiteville City Schools.