Is Early Childhood Education Really Where Delaware Should Be Focused?
By Tanya Hettler, PhD
Center for Education Policy
July 12, 2024
A new Early Childhood Education Bill, SB 305, which expands state-provided early childhood education services, has passed in the latest session of the Delaware legislature in both the House and the Senate and is currently waiting for the Governor's signature.
Several times during the discussion of the bill in the House, representatives stated that "we know that early childhood education (ECE) is effective." I sent in testimony to the Representatives regarding current research on ECE, indicating that recent research has found that it is not effective. The current article is a summary and expansion of this information.
Early Research
Much of the commonly cited evidence on ECE relies on the findings of three randomized controlled trials that were conducted nearly 50 years ago, which enrolled a total of just over 350 children who were intentionally selected from families in extreme poverty and thus unrepresentative of the population as a whole. This early research consisted of three very carefully run early childhood programs known as the Perry study, the Abecedarian study, and The Early Training Project.
Each of these studies was completed with a small hand-picked group of children who were taught by researchers using individualized, one-on-one, or small group, high-quality instruction and found significant positive effects of the early childhood programs on educational performance - at least in the short run. However, many of these effects diminished over time.
Later studies looking at larger groups of children in less controlled and optimized settings have not found the same benefits. Some of these include: The Longterm Effects of Universal Preschool in Boston, Lottery Evidence on the Impact of Preschool in the United States: A Review and Meta-Analysis, and Elusive Longer-Run Impacts of Head Start: Replications Within and Across Cohorts.
Why the Change in Research Outcomes?
There are several theories as to why more recent findings are different from the initial ECE findings. It may be because other support services have come into effect for families living in poverty, and thus, ECE does not have the same impact as it did in the past. Or that a greater percentage of children now attend another form of ECE. Or that the quality of care provided in more recent research has not met the standards of the earlier research.
Another explanation is that, although ECE gives students a boost in kindergarten and first grade, perhaps declining outcomes in K-12 schools in recent years have diminished the impact of ECE, which cannot make up for poor k-12 outcomes.
Delaware is one of the five worst performing states in the nation in K-12 education. According to the state's own data, only 41% of students can read at grade level, and only 31% of students can do math at grade level. If our education system is so ineffective in teaching students in K-12, what makes state leaders think that we will do better in ECE?
Other Concerns Regarding Increasing Early Childhood Education in Delaware
The increase in state-provided ECE legislated by SB 305 would also imperil home and neighborhood preschools as well as those in places of worship which would all be required to meet the new requirements, and thus make them more institutional and less community focused. It would also likely lead to more ECE being provided in public school buildings rather than in less formal settings. This may not be beneficial for young children who are already required to spend 13 years of their lives in institutional school settings.
SB 305 would also require greater training for early childhood teachers, which may not be necessary and would increase the cost of ECE for the state and its taxpayers.
Delaware has conducted no ECE research. Gathering data on the effectiveness of ECE programs in the state would make sense before adding further programs. This is especially true considering Delaware's poor success in K-12 education.
Instead, Delaware would have a far greater impact on students' lives by improving our existing K-12 education system. This is where we should be focusing our efforts and our money - not on adding more years of early education to an already failing system. Unfortunately, like the other ten education bills that have passed through the House and Senate this session, SB 305 does not address the core issue of improving our poor K-12 educational outcomes.