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For immediate release
March 17, 2004
Illinois receives high marks in national Preschool report
(Springfield) - Illinois' recently shared the spotlight
with two other states for its quality pre-kindergarten
programs.
The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)
recently released The State of Preschool: 2003 State Preschool
Yearbook, the first in an annual series of reports on
programs funded by state governments to educate children
at ages 3 and 4. The report addressed how state funded
preschool programs fare in the areas of access, quality
standards and resources. The report details how many states
have failed to set high standards for their early childhood
programs and are not assuring access to programs.
In the quality standards category, the report explains
that while no state met all 10 benchmarks for state quality
standards, three state programs met nine out of 10: Arkansas,
Illinois and New Jersey's "Abbott District"
program.
Illinois met the following benchmarks: it has comprehensive
learning standards; teachers are required to hold a Bachelor
of Arts as well as hold an Early Childhood teaching certificate;
teaching assistants are required to hold an associate's
degree; teachers are required to complete 120 hour over
five years of in-service professional development; class
sizes can not exceed 20 students; staff to child ration
is 1:10; programs screen children for vision, hearing
and health and parental involvement is required. Because
most programs meet for half a day, Illinois does not have
any meal requirements for its pre-kindergarten programs.
Illinois ranked 8th in nation for access to
its pre-kindergarten programs among 4-year-olds and 4th
in the nation for access to 3-year-olds. Despite recent
increased funding of early childhood programs, Illinois
ranked 17th in the nation in terms of state
resources offered.
"Our pre-kindergarten programs are something we
should hang our hat on in Illinois," said State Superintendent
Robert Schiller. "We have high standards for both
our teachers and our students. Teachers are certified
in early childhood and incorporate specific learning standards
in classrooms whose size is limited. The combination of
those factors ensures that each child attending a state
funding pre-kindergarten program is in an environment
that is ripe for learning."
Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin were the first states
to offer a free education to 3- to-5 -year-old children
with special needs in the early 1970s. In the mid-1980's,
Illinois began to offer the state prekindergarten program
for children who are at risk of academic failure. The
decision in Illinois came at a time when 70 percent of
preschoolers attended private programs. Currently 77-percent
of the state's 888 school districts offer state funded
pre-kindergarten programs.
Illinois currently has a total enrollment of more than
60,000 in its pre-kindergarten programs and a funding
level of $191 million. While many states set criteria
for eligibility, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico and Virginia
share the same philosophy that local communities and/
or individual programs determine who is enrolled.
A copy of the complete report may be viewed at http://nieer.org/yearbook/pdf/yearbook.pdf.
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