Testing Goes to Preschool

The NRS reflects a nationwide movement toward testing in preschools that is gathering force state by state. In recent years, state-funded preschool programs have grown rapidly and are now in 40 of the 50 states, according to statistics by the Education Commission of the States (ECS). The number of children in state-funded prekindergarten programs rose from about 300,000 in 1990 to more than 700,000 in 2001, and spending more than doubled, from $700 million to $1.7 million, during roughly this same period. Four other states provide supplemental funding for federal Head Start programs, and six states have no state-funded prekindergarten programs,ECS statistics show.

Along with increased enrollment in and funding for preschool at the state level came a call for greater accountability. “There was a sincere desire on the part of people investing public funds in early childhood education to see whether there are results,” says Marilou Hyson, deputy executive director of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

As a result, in recent years states have increasingly mandated assessments of preschool programs to provide information on children’s abilities and track the progress of the programs. And, at the federal level, the NRS is by far the largest effort of this kind, mandating the evaluation of nearly every one of the 450,000 four- and five-year olds in the Head Start program.