Early preschool?

Does it work?

We hear an awful lot about the great value of pre-school to better prepare students for their K to 12 academic experience.

But, I keep wondering, does it really work?

For sure, many studies of the Head Start program have raised questions about that program’s lasting impact. Those studies indicate any initial gains are being lost by the third grade, sometimes even earlier.

Now, Brookings Institution has an article about another, more recent study, this time of a Tennessee-run pre-school program. The article says that not only did the Tennessee program not provide advantages, but it actually might have proved an impairment to later performance in K to 12 schools.

After reading the Brookings article, I am left still wondering if pre-school is really a good bang-for-the-buck investment.