Giving Compass' Take:

• A recent study shows that Tennessee's state-funded voluntary pre-k program students are more likely to be in special education classes and get into trouble farther down the road. 

• The researchers also suggest that the higher rates of students in special education are because students will be labeled as needing special services in pre-k, and the designation will stay with them throughout their elementary school years. How can educators help those students leave special education programs if they truly do not need to be in them?

• Read more details on this study and what other adverse effects came from VPK. 

Children attending Tennessee’s state-funded Voluntary Pre-K (VPK) program were more likely than those who didn’t attend the program to be receiving special education services and to get in trouble in school by 3rd grade, according to the latest results of an ongoing study by researchers at Vanderbilt University.

The findings, the researchers write, reinforce the importance of strengthening the full pre-K-to-3rd-grade span. “One possible explanation for why the gains children made in VPK did not continue to advantage them afterwards is a failure of kindergarten and later teachers to build on the skills those children bring from their pre-k experience,” they write.

The program gives preference in enrollment to children from low-income homes and those who are homeless or in foster care. Until NIEER revised its list of quality benchmarks in 2016, VPK was meeting nine out of 10 of the standards, including requiring teachers to have a bachelor’s degree and having early learning standards. But the program only meets five of the updated benchmarks, such as individual coaching for teachers and program improvement plans.

The researchers suggest that the higher rates of special education could indicate that when a child is identified for services in pre-K, that label stays with the child into the primary grades. “Once a child has received a special education designation, it is difficult to lose it,” they write.

Read the full article about Tennessee's voluntary pre-k program by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive