Oklahoma leads nation in prekindergarten access By GINNIE GRAHAM World Staff Writer 3/14/2007 Oklahoma is highlighted as "A Pre-K Leader" and given nearly perfect marks for its state-funded prekindergarten program in a report being released Wednesday by the National Institute for Early Education ResearchThe report examines the quality of early education provided in each state based on 10 specific benchmarks. Oklahoma met nine of the standards, missing the requirement regarding assistant teacher preparation. The institute standard is a Child Development Associate or equivalent. The state requires that an assistant teacher meet one of three requirements: obtain an associate's degree, pass one of two state tests or have 48 credit hours of college coursework. "The state is pretty close to meeting the benchmark," said Steve Barnett, institute director and lead researcher for the report. "The issue is really the state test. If the requirement was an associate's degree, no question that is a higher standard than a CDA. "But looking at the Oklahoma General Education test and state test for paraprofessionals, we don't know if those tests ensure that assistant teachers have adequate preparation." In a telephone conference with other reporters across the country, Barnett mentioned that Oklahoma has a model program. About 70 percent of Oklahoma's 4-year-olds are enrolled in a state-funded program. When adding enrollments of 4-year-olds in Head Start and special-education programs, about 90 percent are in some type of education program, the report states. Oklahoma's funding of the 4-year-olds is built into the state funding formula to districts. Most districts offer the program in their schools, but some contract with existing child-care providers and work with Head Start programs. Standards and pay for the districts' early education teachers are the same as those in kindergarten through 12th grades. Oklahoma and Georgia are the only states educating at least half of their children at age 4. Georgia serves about 51 percent of 4-year-olds. "We tout Oklahoma as being at the top nationally for both enrollment and offering programs with a very high quality," Barnett said. "Oklahoma ranks first in making a high-quality program available to virtually all 4-year-olds. Yet, there are 12 states that do not provide any state-funded education." The institute is a Washington, D.C.-based organization that has been collecting data on state early childhood programs for five years. Two states -- Alabama and North Carolina -- met all the quality benchmarks. Six more states met nine of the 10. Barnett said the benchmarks are meant as minimum state standards. "These are what we think is the least states should do to have a quality program," Barnett said. "The benchmarks are a fairly low bar, and none guarantee having a high-quality program. For instance, you cannot put the standards in place and not follow it up with adequate funding." Once the benchmarks are met, Barnett said that is not the complete sign of high quality. "There needs to be other thinking in place," Barnett said. "What is the state doing to ensure if a given program has the resources and set standards that are actually delivering a good education? "We'd like to see states have a continuous improvement cycle and process. There needs to be monitoring of actual quality and not just standards." Nationally, enrollment in state-funded 4-year-old programs increased by 18 percent for a total of about 942,766 children. Enrollment has grown by 40 percent during the past five years. Quality among programs improved in 16 states, the report states. Oklahoma added a policy to provide vision, hearing and health screenings and referrals, and offer at least one support service. "That improved quality standard over last year is a pretty big bump," Barnett said. "But when looking across the nation and comparing neighboring states, the quality standards vary widely. The kind of education for children depends largely on where the children live, and we argue that shouldn't happen."FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONhttp://nieer.org/