Tennessee and Georgia’s prekindergarten programs earned high marks for meeting benchmarks by increasing the number of children served, and Tennessee was spotlighted as one of eight states meeting nine of 10 quality indicators, according to a recent national report.
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who has championed growth in the state’s pre-k programs, said the National Institute of Early Education Research, part of New Jersey’s Rutgers University, has rigorous standards.
“This report confirms that the pre-k program we are building in Tennessee is high quality and beneficial to our public education system,” Gov. Bredesen said in a prepared statement. “Dollar for dollar, pre-k is one of the best investments we can make in the future of our children.”
For the second year, Tennessee met all but one of 10 quality benchmarks that measure teacher education, class size and the amount of attention paid to children’s health and well-being. Georgia met eight out of 10 on the annual study from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Alabama met all 10.
Tennessee was penalized for not requiring that assistants have a child development associate degree or certification. Georgia also missed that category, as well as failing to require that teachers be certified to teach in early childhood education, according to the report.
Todd Blandin, spokesman for Georgia’s Bright from the Start program that oversees pre-k, said the state is moving toward requiring certification for assistant.
“And while we don’t require teachers to have four-year degrees, nearly 80 percent of our teachers do have four-year degrees,” Mr. Blandin said. “Our program continues to grow, and the governor and legislature support increased funding every year since its inception.”
Both states were recognized for growing the size of their pre-k programs and increasing the number of dollars spent per pupil.
Tennessee ranked 13th, spending $4,168 per enrolled child, and Georgia ranked 15th, spending $4,111 per child, compared with a $3,642 nationwide average.
The number of states offering pre-k continues to grow nationwide and so does enrollment, the report stated.
Gov. Bredesen earmarked $25 million for pre-k programs for at-risk children in Tennessee. Schools apply for funding and must provide a match of funds or in-kind services.
In Georgia, lawmakers approved funding to add 1,175 new slots, bringing to almost 80,000 the number of places available for the first-come, first-serve program. Georgia has invested $325 million of lottery money since beginning its program in 1993.
Georgia schools use a lottery system to award the spots, which will be drawn on April 15. Tennessee schools will learn if they will receive funding for new classes when legislators approve a budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.
Educators said demand for the program is growing as parents and elementary school teachers see the effect of early education.
“We have gotten such an outcry from kindergarten teachers at Spring City Elementary School about how these kids are so much better prepared (going through pre-k),” said Ray Fugate, assistant director of Rhea County, Tenn., Schools.
BY THE NUMBERS
A federal report recently ranked the 38 states that provide pre-k programs based on percentage of 4-year-old children served.
State Rank — Percentage
* Alabama: 38 — 1.8
* Georgia: 3 — 53.3
* Tennessee: 20 — 15.6
Source: National Institute of Early Education Research
ON THE WEB
To see the report on pre-k programs visit www.nieer.org/yearbook/
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