The national trend towards public preschool has been building in recent years. In 1980 only 10 states had public preschool, but as of 2005, at least 38 states plus the District of Columbia offered some form of public preschool.3 Three of these states offer voluntary universal programs, and two states are working on a plan for implementing universal pre-kindergarten.4 Of the 38 states with public preschool, at least 29 are relying in part on community-based settings, such as child care, Head Start or private preschool.

While many states need to build public support for additional budget dollars to implement preschool, Wisconsin has the advantage that 4-year-old kindergarten (4K) is built into our state constitution. That constitutional foundation has led to the development of Wisconsin’s school aid funding formula, which assists any district that wants to implement a 4K program.

Wisconsin has a very strong tradition of local control, so decisions about 4K and other programs are in the hands of each school board. Perhaps due to Wisconsin’s history of local autonomy, efforts to mandate 4K programs for every district in the state have faced considerable resistance, while individual disctricts have embraced 4K for their communities.

In 1988, Milwaukee started the first community-approach 4K, although it has not yet made this a district-wide option. A little more than a decade later, in the 2000-01 school year, La Crosse became the first district in Wisconsin to pioneer a district-wide community-approach 4K. Soon after, a few other districts followed suit.

The communities going that route have a partnership with local agencies, such as Head Start, child care or preschools, to deliver the 4K program. Word began to spread that these models were preferred for a number of reasons. Advocates began to believe that this approach offered many benefits that a school-based model could not, such as reducing the negative impact on private agencies, maximizing existing resources, and building collaborative relationships.

For people interested in preschool and education issues in Wisconsin, another important consideration is that an educational achievement gap continues to be a major problem. Research has shown that about half of the achievement gap between black and white high school students is already present when children begin indergarten.5 This disparity is attributable in part to the lack of access for children of color to quality early learning settings. Black children nationally, for example, are more likely to attend lower-quality preschool programs than their peers.

Early childhood brain development research tells us that children’s ability to learn is influenced significantly by their environment. Quality environments can mitigate the influences of poverty, low maternal education, and even poor health. Increasing the number of children of color with access to such programs would help narrow the achievement gap that is present when students enter school. In Wisconsin, 15 percent of 3-year-olds and 42 percent of 4-year-olds participate in kindergarten or Head Start programs.

A number of high profile studies demonstrate that high quality early education narrows the achievement gap for African-American children and children in poverty.8 The same long-term studies show that it can also improve children’s intellectual and social performance, as well as economic security later in life.

The combination of the momentum behind public preschool nationally and statewide and the success of the community-approach 4K programs in Wisconsin brought a number of people together when the Joyce funding opportunity came available. Four agencies together developed a project proposal called Early Education Matters. The idea was that each agency could lead a particular component of the project, and that when combined their individual areas of expertise would deliver a strong project outcome. The agencies agreed to focus the project on the expansion of the quality and quantity of early education experiences available to four-year-olds in the state of Wisconsin.

The proposal was submitted with the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families to lead the initiative and award sub-grants to the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (an affiliate of the National Association for the Education of Young Children), the University of Wisconsin – Extension Wisconsin Child Care Research Partnership, and the Milwaukee Public Schools. In addition to these funded partners, a variety of other agencies assisted with Early Education Matters and served on an Advisory Committee (see section on Collaboration).

The Joyce Foundation awarded $1.3 million dollars over two years to implement the Early Education Matters project. The project award was made in May 2004 and concluded in April 2006.

“It was a significant concern to create bridges with the local parochial and private preschools/child care centers. Dialogue and site visits helped the committee to shape a potential frame for partnerships that will go further than the four-year-old preschool programs. The integrity and commitment of this group to find what is best for kids and appropriate under law was always at the forefront of all discussions” - Watertown

Download Early Education Matters: Lessons Learned

PDF format, 1.8MB, 32Pages.

EARLY EDUCATION MATTERS is a project of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families in collaboration with the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association, the University of Wisconsin-Extension Wisconsin Child Care Research Partnership, and Milwaukee Public Schools.

The project is funded through the generous support of the Joyce Foundation.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Project Design and Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Collaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Growth of 4K and Community Approaches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Outcomes of Community Grants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Survey Data on 4K Programs by
Wisconsin Child Care Research Partnership. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Existing Factors Impacting Community Progress
toward Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Advantages Strong, but Challenges Remain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
For Policymaking and Funding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
For Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
For Advocacy and Collaboration: Local and State . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Next Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Appendix A:
EEM Grant Communities that Have Implemented
or Expanded or Will Start in Fall 2006. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Appendix B:
EEM Communities Still Working Towards Implementation . . . . . . . . 25
Appendix C:
Survey Questions for Community-Approach 4K Site Visits. . . . . . . . . 26
Appendix D:
The Financing of Wisconsin’s Public Education System—
Implications for 4K Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Appendix E: Training Provided by the
Wisconsin Early Childhood Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
End Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

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