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Preschool students show improved skills, study says Friday, Jan 26, 2007 By John Lyon LITTLE ROCK - Students enrolled in the Arkansas Better Chance program have shown significant improvement in math, vocabulary and reading skills, according to a Rutgers University study released Thursday. "We wanted to celebrate the success, and we wanted to point out that we can't stop now," Gov. Mike Beebe said at a news conference announcing the results of the study. Beebe has proposed spending an additional $40 million to expand the state's voluntary pre-kindergarten program. The study by Rutgers' National Institute for Early Education Research found that during the 2004-05 school year, children enrolled in the program improved in math skills by 37 percent more than their peers who were not enrolled in the program. The children also improved in vocabulary skills by 31 percent and in ability to recognize letters by 116 percent more than their peers. "These are the major, I think, stats that reflect empirically how significant it is when we put quality preschool programs out their for these at-risk children, and what Arkansas has done," Beebe said. "It further reflects, I think, how significant and important it is for us to do even more." Created in 1991, the program serves nearly 19,000 children ages 3 and 4 from families whose income is less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Beebe said his proposed $40 million increase would allow the program to expand to reach all at-risk children in the state. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee previously recommended renewing the state's 3-cent excise tax on beer to fund preschool programs. The bill was passed in 2001 as a temporary measure to offset budget cuts, and since then it has been renewed every two years. Beebe said Thursday he has not decided whether to recommend renewing the tax, which is set to expire June 30. He said he would like to have the extra money for preschool, but his budget proposal would be enough to fund the programs without renewing the tax. "Whether that gets renewed or whether it doesn't get renewed, we're going to fund pre-K," he said. Preschool programs have some critics. Rep. Jon Woods, R-Springdale, said in an interview that children in preschool may progress faster than other children the same age, but "studies have also shown that all students have caught up with each other by the third grade." Woods said he is pro-education, but that he would rather see $40 million spent on teacher raises, scholarships or technical training. "If you're putting $40 million into a program that everybody is on the same playing field by the third grade, then why don't we try and look for other areas to get more bang for our buck?" he said. |
