PK-3: What Is It and How Do We Know It Works? [CPPT, Section 3g]

As evidence mounts, more and more American political and education leaders are concluding it’s wise to invest in Prekindergarten (PK) education. Economic analyses show prevention of poor educational performance costs less than its remediation. And the promise PK shows for boosting student achievement appeals to leaders under increasing pressure from state and federal education accountability measures required by No Child Left Behind. Without early education programs, children growing up in low-income households lose ground to their middle-class peers, a gap that only widens as they advance through elementary school.

Most leaders, however, continue to view early childhood education narrowly as an initiative to prepare children for Kindergarten. This brief argues that policy makers can reap a better return on their PK investments if they adopt a more expansive view of this first stage of education as a period extending from PK through third grade.

Studies show investing solely in PK is not enough. While well-designed PK does improve children’s social and cognitive skills, these gains frequently fade as children advance beyond Kindergarten.

This does not have to happen. A growing body of research shows that children continue to make gains in schools that connect PK to a full-day Kindergarten and primary grades with aligned standards and curriculum in a coherent PK-3 education program. In these schools, which remain rare, fade-out is much less common.

This document is part of the California Preschool Planning Toolkit.