Facing the School-Readiness Challenge

Prekindergarten is one of the most hotly contested topics in American education today. In Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut, Chester E. Finn Jr. outlines the issues that drive and complicate this contentious debate: Which children really need it? How many aren't getting it? Who should provide it—and at whose expense? What's the right balance between socialization and systematic instruction—between education and child care? Where does Head Start fit in? What are reliable markers of quality in preschool programs?

The author looks at recent social and educational changes that have brought unprecedented attention to school readiness, the hazy boundary between preschool and child care, and the extent to which American youngsters already have access to various pre-K services.

He then examines the shaky state of standards and quality in this field and the largely inconclusive nature of research and evidence as to "what works" with young children.

After reviewing of two of America's most prominent examples of universal pre-K education in Florida and Oklahoma and looking at the four-decade-old Head Start Program, Finn tackles the matter of costs and benefits and the fractious issue of alternative delivery systems before offering some conclusions and ideas for the path ahead.

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THE ROLLING JUGGERNAUT
The campaign for universal preschool education in the United States has gained great momentum. Precisely as its strategists intend, many Americans are coming to believe that pre-kindergarten is a good and necessary thing for government to provide; indeed, that not providing it will cruelly deprive our youngest residents of their birthrights, blight their educational futures, and dim their life prospects. ...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chester E. Finn, Jr. is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, senior editor of Education Next, senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and chairman of Hoover’s Task Force on K–12 Education. For 40 years, he has been in the forefront of the national debate about school reform.

Finn previously served as founding partner of the Edison Project, Professor of Education and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, Assistant Secretary for Research and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, Staff Assistant to the President of the United States, Special Assistant to the Governor of Massachusetts, Counsel to the U.S. Ambassador to India, Research Associate at the Brookings Institution and Legislative Director for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Previous books include Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform Since Sputnik; No Remedy Left Behind, co-edited with Frederick M. Hess; Leaving No Child Behind: Options for Kids in Failing Schools, also co-edited with Hess; Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education, co-authored with Bruno V. Manno and Gregg Vanourek; and The Educated Child: A Parent’s Guide from Pre-School Through Eighth Grade, co-authored with William J. Bennett and John Cribb. He has also authored more than 400 articles in leading journals and newspapers.

ABOUT THE HOOVER INSTITUTE
TASK FORCE ON K–12 EDUCATION
The Task Force on K–12 Education is a top-rate team of education experts brought together by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, with the support of the Koret Foundation and other foundations and individuals, to work on education reform.

The primary objectives of the task force are to gather, evaluate, and disseminate existing evidence in an analytical context, and analyze reform measures that will enhance the quality and productivity of K–12 education.

The Task Force on K–12 Education includes some of the most highly regarded and best known education scholars in the nation.

Most are professors at leading universities and many have served in various executive and advisory roles for federal, state, and local governments. Their combined expertise represents over 300 years of research and study in the field of education. Current members of the task force are John E. Chubb, Williamson M. Evers, Chester E. Finn Jr., Eric A. Hanushek, Paul T. Hill, Caroline M. Hoxby, Tom Loveless, Terry M. Moe, Paul E. Peterson, Diane Ravitch, and Herbert J. Walberg.

The eleven-member task force forms the centerpiece of the Hoover Institution’s Initiative on American Educational Institutions and Academic Performance. In addition to producing original research, analysis, and recommendations in a growing body of work on the most important issues in American education today, task force members serve as editors, contributors, and members of the editorial board of Education Next: A Journal of Opinion and Research, published by the Hoover Institution.

For further information, see the Task Force Website.
www.hoover.org/taskforces/taskforces/education

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