April 21, 2005

Pre-K Update

Ben Cunningham of Tennessee Tax Revolt emailed regarding Gov. Phil Bredesen's Pre-K plan now apparently sailing through the state Senate:

The Pre-K bill made it out of the Senate Education Committee this afternoon on an 8-0 vote. It will go next to Finance, Ways, and Means. Senator Bryson tried to amend the bill to cover only at risk kids but it failed by one vote with Sen. Hagood voting against Bryson's amendment.

Coincidentally, I just saw this on Joanne Jacobs' site. A study from Mathematica Policy Research Center on the federal after school program that is also designed to be a substitutue for parents. The result of $1 billion dollars: no academic improvement and a greater likelyhood of "negative behaviors" when they were in the classroom. Maybe its not such a good thing to take kids away from their parents?!?!?!

Compared to control groups, there was little effect on academic achievement, but low-performing elementary students in after-school programs showed some gains in English grades.

There was no difference in homework completion or parent involvement; elementary children in the program, who typically attended two to three times a week, weren't less likely to be in "latchkey" situations. Participation correlated with misbehavior in school, perhaps because children not in the program spent more time under the care of parents and relatives.

Teachers observed higher levels of negative behaviors during the school day for program students, such as being suspended, being disciplined by being made to miss recess or sit in the hall, and having parents contacted about a problem.

Most centers spent about $1,000 per student per year. It hardly seems worth it.

Bredesen's Pre-K plan is a wasteful proposal that we don't need. Sen. Hagood should be ashamed for rubber-stamping it through her committee.
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For more scrutiny of the Bredesen record, see Bredesen Watch.