A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

School Involvement in Early Childhood, July 2000

Introduction

Public education begins with kindergarten for most children, but an estimated 1 million prekindergarten children are also in public schools,¹ and the number is increasing. As early as the 1993-94 school year, a U.S. Department of Education survey of all school districts found that 66 percent offered voluntary prekindergarten, including special education prekindergarten, general prekindergarten, and Head Start.² In 1998-99, public schools reported using Title I funds for 260,000 prekindergarten children,³ in addition to preschoolers enrolled in Even Start, special education, and other public preschool classrooms.

State governments are leading a trend toward public education for prekindergarten children. Responding to a Children's Defense Fund survey that defined prekindergarten as "focused primarily on education for three- and four-year-olds," 24 states⁴ reported funding prekindergarten initiatives in 1991-92. This number jumped to 42 states, serving approximately 725,000 children, in 1998-99. Of the 42 states, 24 states funded only their own prekindergarten programs, 14 funded their own programs and also supplemented Head Start, and 4 only supplemented Head Start.⁵

Responding to a General Accounting Office survey that defined preschool as programs that "generally operated as part of the public school system," 32 states reported funding preschool in 1998-99, serving approximately 613,000 children.⁶

Differences in the Children's Defense Fund and General Accounting Office surveys illustrate the lack of standardized definitions for "preschool" and "prekindergarten."

[Acknowledgments] [Background]