The Pre-K Now campaign, sponsored by the Pew Charitable Trusts, will be ending on December 31 after a decade of work and over $10 million in early-education advocacy. The director of the Pew Center on the States, Susan K. Urahn, stated that the campaign was always intended to have a limited duration. Urahn believes that they have achieved what they set out to do and added maximum value, but Pew will continue to monitor state pre-K spending. In the meantime, the Pew center is promoting state and federal policies that support high-quality home-visiting programs for families with infants and toddlers.
Advocates credit Pre-K Now with helping to significantly increase the number of state prekindergarten programs over the past ten years. However, some worry that important data and policy research on early childhood may be forgotten in the push for new funding. State funding for pre-K programs increased from $2.4 billion in 2002 to $5.4 billion in 2011 over the course of the campaign. In 2002, five states’ pre-K programs met eight out of ten national benchmarks set by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), and by 2010, 24 states met these benchmarks. Currently, 1.3 million children, or 27 percent of the nation’s 4-year-olds, attend some form of state-funded prekindergarten, up from 700,000 in 2001.
Pre-K Now also closely monitored states’ spending on pre-K programs and provided advocates with data, research, and examples of successful advocacy efforts through its website. Some individuals in the field are concerned that the end of Pew’s investment will create a void. However, Pre-K Now officials are confident that there are other strong advocates who will continue to push for progress in early education. As for data, they are working to find new agencies to house their assets.
Additionally, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), which relied on Pew funds to publish its State of Preschool yearbook, is now searching for new support. Although Pew is assisting with reducing the cost of compiling and publishing the yearbook, NIEER still needs to find long-term funding. Advocates agree that the next stage should focus on strengthening the connection between early learning for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and children in the early elementary grades.
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