If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: teacher quality really, really matters in pre-K. We’ve been beating this horse to death ever since our first-ever Capitol briefing last summer on pre-K.
This new report by Pre-K Now summarizes the existing research on the link between teacher qualifications and student outcomes for pre-K children. As the authors state unequivocally, “The weight of the evidence suggests that children benefit when states require both a bachelor’s degree and well-designed, specialized early childhood training for all teachers in state pre-k classrooms.” We hope that the Legislature and all parties interested in privately funding pre-K initiatives will take this lesson to heart.
Rachel