“It’s for the kids.” That’s what then-Gov. Phil Bredesen told Tennesseans when he rolled out his pre-kindergarten program in 2005.
Bredesen based Tennessee’s pre-k program on Georgia’s model for early childhood education — a model that studies proved time and time again fell victim to the “fade out” effect and produced no long-term benefits for students.
In every large-scale government pre-k program, including Head Start, studies show that gains made by children in pre-k fade out by about the third grade. By the second grade, students attending the Georgia pre-k program performed no better on test scores or in the classroom than children of the same socioeconomic background who did not attend the program.
Large government pre-k programs aren’t successful in helping children long term. They never have been. They’re a sham. A big ol’ bunch of poppycock.
Since they don’t work in improving educational outcomes, government pre-k schemes are ultimately little more than expensive taxpayer-funded babysitting services.