One clear lesson from the pandemic: Children lose out when they don’t attend school. Young children learn best through hands-on activities, and parents found “remote” preschool a frustratingly poor substitute for in-person learning. No group of children fared worse than preschoolers during the pandemic, as it erased a decade of progress with drops in enrollment and waivers for quality standards. The nation should respond not just by returning to the pre-pandemic norm but by offering high-quality preschool education to every child.

The pandemic’s impact on children is clear. According to the most recent report released by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), a majority of 3- and 4-year-olds received no preschool education in 2021-22. Despite substantial gains from 2020-21, the worst year for preschool in a decade, over 130,000 fewer students were enrolled in state-funded programs than in 2019-20.

Among those who did enroll, most did not attend a program with the high standards for quality that research has shown produce long-term positive impacts.

Unfortunately, low access to quality preschool is a theme: In the 20 years since NIEER began collecting data on the state of preschool in America, we have seen only piecemeal steps forward and frequent steps back in funding and access for high-quality preschool programs across the country. During that time, real state spending per child has remained essentially unchanged, making clear that our nation has not prioritized early education despite its proven benefits and ongoing bipartisan support. Without fundamental change, this trend will continue.

One explanation for our lack of progress is that, for the most part, public preschool programs are restricted to serving children in low-income families, as is the federal Head Start program. In 2022, only Washington, D.C., and six states truly offered preschool education to all children. Other programs, including some that are called universal, fail to serve all eligible children because of inadequate budget appropriations and other restrictions.

That means that many state programs and federal Head Start effectively cap enrollment. As a result, just 32 percent of America’s 4-year-olds and 6 percent of our 3-year-olds received state-funded pre-K in 2021-22.

This nation’s continued failure to provide preschool education is at odds with a growing body of evidence, from states including New Mexico, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and New Jersey, that preschool programs are a sound investment.

Read the full article about COVID-19 and preschool education by Steven Barnett at The Hechinger Report.