Georgia budget writers eye pre-k program

The state has spent more than $216 million on a program to help low-income children get kindergarten-ready, without any concrete proof it’s working, state auditors have found.

The Resource Coordination Program has been part of the state’s often-lauded Pre-Kindergarten Program since 1996 — long enough that some of the first 4-year-olds it helped get dental care or eyeglasses are now approaching high school graduation.

But state auditors, in a report issued last month, said they are unable to evaluate how effective it has been. The problem, they said, is “the program does not track how well children served through the program actually perform in kindergarten.”

A similar study by Georgia State University researchers in 2005-06 also was inconclusive.

New leadership at Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning, the agency overseeing the program, is promising accountability. But the agency said it won’t have enough data showing results until the 2010-2011 school year.

Budget writers in the Georgia House asked for the audit.

State Rep. Ed Lindsey (R-Atlanta), vice chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said he believes the program helps, but he wants to see a measure of its success.

“We need to have more concrete data, and we’re trying to see that that takes place,” Lindsey said. “We want to make sure the money is being focused on programs that will give those children the heads-up they need.”

Officials with DECAL said in an e-mail response to questions from the AJC that changes were made after the GSU study. Among them, they said, is a requirement that pre-k programs with the resource coordinators submit additional documentation of the services they provide.

They also said that, starting in the 2008-2009 school year, students in pre-kindergarten were each given a testing identification number.

“This will allow us to follow children who attended the program, including those who attended programs with RC services, throughout their Georgia public school experience,” DECAL officials said.

Last year, the program paid 484 people to work in many of the state-funded pre-kindergartens. Without the help of these people, “some of our parents would have no clue,” said Gay Brooks, a pre-k teacher at Sheltering Arms in Duluth.

Sherry Pass, a beautician and single mom from Rome, said the resource coordinator at her son, Weston’s, pre-k program has helped her keep up with the vaccination shots he needs and with dental services that are available.

“It opened my eyes,” Pass said.

While pre-k is open to children at all income levels, the resource program is based on at-risk children.

About 40,000 of the 78,000 children enrolled in pre-k are considered at-risk — those whose families qualify for welfare, PeachCare or some other programs for low incomes.

An often-cited study of a Chicago program that offers comprehensive support services to children in preschool and early elementary school showed, among other things, that they outperformed nonparticipants in reading and math scores up to age 15. The study also showed that through sixth grade, fewer of those children had to repeat a grade.

DuBose Porter, a longtime legislator, Pre-K advocate and candidate for governor, said the Georgia program was intended to help children be better prepared for school by dealing with the “collateral issues to learning,” such as proper vision and dental health.

“Then the teacher can spend the time on reading, math and forming those building blocks that have to be formed at that time,” Porter said.

Lawmakers like Lindsey want to know if it’s working.

Gary T. Henry, a former Georgia State researcher and the director of the Carolina Institute for Public Policy at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, said he saw mixed results in the 2005 study.

“When coordinators followed up to make sure services were actually delivered, the program appeared to be effective,” Henry said. “However, in many cases coordinators did not appear to follow up, and the program did not produce any discernible benefits.”