Giving Compass' Take:

• Benjamin Heuston explains how Utah's decentralized publically funded kindergarten readiness program is supplying families with the resources they need to give their children a strong start. 

• What is your state doing to prepare kids for school? How can other states learn from Utah? 

• Learn more about ensuring kindergarten readiness for children. 

Rick Hess: Benj, so what exactly does Waterford.org do?

Benj Heuston: Waterford works directly with families and their children to help them get ready for school. We’ve created a unique program that trains and supports parents so they can better engage with their children, while also providing technology and learning software that the children can use on their own. In particular, our online preschool program now provides personalized learning to 15,000 students in the state of Utah, where the program is publicly funded.

Rick: How do you make sure these families actually use the programming? Or is it really up to parents?

Benj: The program is opt-in, so everyone who’s in the program is only there because they want to be. The central requirement for being part of the program is being willing to ensure that the child uses the software 15 minutes a day, five days a week. In order to help the parents keep on track, we provide reports and reminders, but we also proactively reach out on a regular basis to help them establish effective routines or to help clear any roadblocks they might be running into.

Rick: What kind of results have you seen? Have there been any studies of your efforts?

Benj: We’ve seen tremendous results. Children who use the program are not just mastering the basic preliteracy skills, but often show mastery of mid- to late-kindergarten reading concepts. Perhaps even more importantly, these advantages are not fading out—the state of Utah found that these children are still ahead of their peers in 4th grade in reading, math and science.

Rick: What if the home doesn’t have a computer or reliable internet connection?

Benj: We provide a computer and a robust internet connection to families who cannot afford them. We don’t want the digital divide to become an educational divide. By the way, this can sometimes be quite a heavy lift—we’ve had to install solar panels and bring in satellite internet to reach some families, but it’s worth it just knowing that we’re giving every child an opportunity.

Rick: On that note, how does the program cost work? How do your costs compare with other preschool programs?

Benj: The program costs are paid for by the state. There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to a program like this, and Utah is not a small state—one of our counties covers more land than the state of Massachusetts but has only 226 4-year-olds; another is the size of Rhode Island and has 14. Also, this is a parent choice model, which means that we need to individually find, inform, sign up, train, and support over 15,000 families each year, in addition to providing computers and internet for those that need them. On average, our cost is about a quarter of more traditional center-based models.

Read the full interview with Benjamin Heuston about Utah's publicly funded kindergarten readiness program by Frederick Hess at Education Next.