The Context
Year after year, decade after decade, education experts, researchers, and policymakers offer more techniques and programs to try to enhance the learning of children at the pre-Kindergarten level. They hope to increase learning readiness, cognitive skills, and social skills that will advance learning throughout life. Politicians, parents, and taxpayers in general keep hoping for the big breakthrough from the education experts, but it does not appear to emerge.
Researchers Lipsey, Farran, and Hofer recently finished a rigorous, independent evaluation of Tennessee’s Voluntary Prekindergarten program (TNVPK).[1] TN‐VPK is a very special program designed by education experts. It is a full‐day prekindergarten program for four‐year‐old children who are expected to enter kindergarten the following school year. The program in each school that participates must meet standards set by the State Board of Education. These require each classroom to have a teacher with a license in early childhood development and education. The student-to-teacher ratio must be low, of no more than 10:1, and there must be a maximum class size of 20. They must also use an expert- and government-approved age‐appropriate curriculum. TN‐VPK is an optional program that focuses on the neediest children in the state. Many people had high hopes for the effects of the special program called TN-VPK.
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