The latest evaluation of pre-K programs across the U.S. is in.
"The state of pre-K in Oklahoma has been good — historically, a national leader — but since the recession, it slid. And that's clear when you look at the funding numbers," said Steve Barnett, director of Rutgers’ National Institute for Early Education Research.
Oklahoma ranked 31st in state pre-K funding and had the second-highest drop in spending from 2015 to 2016: $5.6 million.
A change in how NIEER evaluates pre-K programs also took some of the shine off Oklahoma. The state met nine of 10 benchmarks last year. But now those benchmarks focus more on professional development and quality standards, and Oklahoma meets only six.
Barnett said the best programs give teachers direct feedback on their performance.
"Having a continuous improvement system that measures the quality of each teacher's teaching, gives each teacher feedback in her or his classroom about that, develops a plan for improvement and repeats — that's one of the keys to success," Barnett said.
One positive is Oklahoma’s pre-K program isn’t seen as separate from K–12.
"And the state needs to take full advantage of that and not only build the continuous improvement processes into preschool, but to build those into kindergarten, first, second and third grade," Barnett said.
Oklahoma also has the third-highest percentage of four-year-olds enrolled in pre-K, behind Washington, D.C., and Florida.
