tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18169339.post114097382425777834..comments2023-09-09T06:30:02.324-05:00Comments on Citizens for Reasonable And Fair Taxes: “Pre-School for All” Isn’t Just Expensive, It Doesn’t Work EitherUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18169339.post-1141076759641344412006-02-27T15:45:00.000-06:002006-02-27T15:45:00.000-06:00A tangled web they weave. Joanne Jacobs (writer a...A tangled web they weave. <BR/><BR/>Joanne Jacobs (writer and teacher) has a great piece on her BLOG about universal preschool. <BR/><BR/>False promise<BR/><BR/>Universal preschool would cost Californians $23 billion over the next 10 years, if Rob Reiner's Proposition 82 passes. But it won't close the learning gap for poor kids, warns Bruce Fuller, a Berkeley education and public policy professor. Currently, 64 percent of four-year-olds go to preschool; Reiner's plan would boost that only to 70 percent. Instead of directing public money at needy families, most of the dollars would go to provide free preschool to middle-class and wealthy parents. Any gains by poor children are likely to be lost when they enter substandard schools.<BR/><BR/>We are learning empirically that gains experienced by poor children who attend preschool fade by third grade unless youngsters enter quality elementary schools, according to new studies by UC-Santa Barbara and University of Wisconsin economists.<BR/><BR/>Fuller also questions the requirement that all preschool teachers earn a bachelor's degree. This would disqualify two-thirds of current preschool teachers.<BR/><BR/>. . . two decades of research show that children benefit when their teachers have a two-year degree and focused training in child development. After that, more years in college are spent on general education requirements, exerting no additional effects. Only the cost rises dramatically.<BR/><BR/>When class sizes were cut, raising demand for elementary teachers, affluent suburban districts hired qualified teachers, leaving the less qualified to fill slots in city schools. Under Proposition 82, that will be repeated for preschool teachers, Fuller predicts. Poor kids will lose.<BR/><BR/>To view the rest of the BLOG post go to http://www.joannejacobs.com/mtarchives/016034.html . Cathy Peschkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06446403189855177235noreply@blogger.com