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9486 in the collection
TEA report: Landmark preschool program isn't paying off
Ohanian Comment: The money goes where it always goes--to middle class professionals: teachers, consultants, researchers. Turning to preschool as a way to close achievement gaps between wealthy and poor children won't work. To close achievement gaps we need to start by closing salary gaps. Pay people a living wage. It's an idea worth trying. Take a look at Make It Work: Low-Wage Employment, Family Life, and Child Development, a chronicle of actually increasing the wages of low-wage workers and seeing what effect this has on their children's academic progress.
By Staci Hupp
A groundbreaking effort to prepare Texas preschoolers for kindergarten has eaten up millions of taxpayer dollars but has yet to deliver on the investment, according to a new report released by the Texas Education Agency.
Report: School Readiness Integration Models (.pdf)
The findings spotlight a lack of budget transparency, little accountability and a lot of administrative overhead in the Texas Early Education Model, or TEEM, a state program run out of the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston.
The program "operates in a netherworld of state finance" far removed from TEA oversight, according to the report by Edvance Research Inc., a San Antonio consulting firm.
State officials have pumped more than $45 million into the program since 2003. Yet the report found no proof that most children fared better in TEEM than in conventional preschool programs.
"I thought those were pretty damning conclusions," said Samuel Meisels, a critic who runs the Erikson Institute, a Chicago graduate school that specializes in early-childhood development.
TEEM's leader defended the program, saying the consultant's report paints an inaccurate picture. And TEA officials said they're trying to improve the program but stressed that its performance has met the agency's expectations.
Last year, just under 27,000 children in 33 Texas communities participated in TEEM, which is expected to become the state's blueprint for all preschools. More than 100 classrooms in Dallas, Irving, Garland, Lancaster and Little Elm participate. TEEM model
TEEM is different from conventional pre-kindergarten programs.
The model depends on the state's support for structured lesson plans and coaching for teachers at private day-care centers and federal Head Start programs. It also operates in some public school district preschools.
It also places certified public school teachers in private day-care centers as mentors for less-educated workers.
The consultant's report drew a misleading portrait of an otherwise landmark effort, said Dr. Susan Landry, a UT researcher who oversees the program as director of the Texas State Center for Early Childhood Development.
Dr. Landry's operation bills itself as the early-childhood arm of the Texas Education Agency, which regulates public schools. TEA spent about $374,000 on the consultant's report.
She said the report treated TEEM like a program with deep roots and deep pockets instead of a start-up with limited money and manpower.
"They [Edvance consultants] had a certain charge from TEA, and they did their jobs," she said. "But there were other things that could have been looked at."
TEEM grew out of state lawmakers' attempts to add structure and value to preschool, an area of education known for finger painting and afternoon naps.
More states have turned to preschool as a way to close achievement gaps between wealthy and poor children, which is harder to do when kids are older.
Dr. Meisels, who has tracked the Texas Early Education Model, says it's a mistake to put an unproven preschool program on the fast track.
For the same reason, some Texas school leaders are reluctant to dismantle their own preschool programs.
"I always have believed that the best decisions are made locally," said Duncan Klussman, superintendent of the Spring Branch school district in Houston. "We feel like we have developed a very good curriculum. We feel it has been very successful for our students, and we would not favor any type of state initiative that would change that."
TEEM's budget is financed by grants from TEA and the Texas Workforce Commission, a state agency that develops services to build the workforce.
The setup is a roadblock to accountability, the consultant's report concluded.
Edvance suggested putting financial decisions directly in the hands of legislators instead of letting the two state agencies decide how much to spend on TEEM.
"Presently, the State Center is not transparent, expenditures and performance are not recapitulated for policymakers, and a key and growing public school program is being operated not out of the Texas Education Agency but a medical school in Houston," the report's authors wrote. Positive light
Sen. Judith Zaffirini, who wrote legislation that paved the way for TEEM, said she doesn't view the report as a major setback.
"I absolutely agree that we need to promote transparency and accountability," said Ms. Zaffirini, D-Laredo. "What I would hope is that this is information that will help strengthen the program."
The report pointed out other problems, including:
*Dr. Landry's group reported expenses in vague detail.
*About 40 percent of the state program's budget appeared to go to salaries, benefits, travel and other expenses.
*The program's system of collecting cost and student records was somewhat incomplete and lacked uniformity.
TEA officials said they're taking steps to achieve more detailed accounting and more closely oversee TEEM. But they emphasized that Dr. Landry's group has met the agency's expectations.
"I think people see a huge amount of money flowing to the state center, and they have the impression that the state center is keeping that money, and they really are not," said Gina Day, deputy associate commissioner at TEA. "They're running pretty lean, frankly." Confidence
There were bright spots in the Texas Early Education Model, according to the report.
Day-care workers who initially were intimidated by working with qualified, state-certified teachers eventually warmed up to the arrangement. Many of them reported more confidence and motivation.
One morning this week, three adults led a class of 20 pint-sized pupils at Bock ChildCareGroup Center, a private day-care center in Oak Cliff that's part of TEEM.
A day-care teacher took turns greeting parents at the classroom door, manning the breakfast table and making students' nametags.
Across the room, a Dallas school district preschool teacher asked children to name the colors on a board game. A classroom mentor, provided through the state program, helped children identify the letters in their first names.
Marlen Errisuriz, who sends her 4-year-old son to the Oak Cliff center, doesn't know the science behind measuring the quality of a preschool classroom.
But Mrs. Errisuriz was sold when her son, Mark, watched his big brother do homework one night and pointed out the letters in his name: G-R-E-G-O-R-Y.
"There's a huge difference," said Mrs. Errisuriz. "He's learned so much here."
The Texas Early Education Model primarily targets poor children in certain areas, but supporters want to see the program extended to every corner of the state.
Dr. Landry's group also developed a voluntary preschool ratings system to grade private and public preschools on how well they groom kids for kindergarten.
No one else has attempted to level the playing field of preschools, Dr. Landry said.
"To be at the point we're at with that small of an investment is quite amazing," she said. "Programs across the country don't do this kind of evaluation."
— Staci Hupp
Dallas Morning News
2007-12-20
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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