Biden 2+2 education proposal

[Hibush]

In the longer term, how much will expanded Pre-K increase college readiness?

If better access to pre-K allows fewer parents to drop from workforce (or pursue more lucrative career paths)
=> such families may have more resources during high-school years (e.g. tutors, enrichment activities etc)
=> more of them may have enough money to pay for university

In other places (such as here in Canada) expanding pre-k is an easy way to basically subsidize childcare but under a different guise (i.e. "education") and with the money coming out of a different government pocket. Whether it benefits students in the long run is less important than how many more women can be in the workforce.

All of these effects seem like they would reinforce future college readiness for those with the potential. Even if it is just childcare during the day, the family stability would increase. In many US cities it is difficult to reenter the workforce and earn more money that the childcare costs, even it it is available at all. PreK can be provided at substantially lower cost (Cost of providing the service) as well as a lower price, whether or not subsidized.

[fishbrains]

Research shows that students who had pre-K have dramatically better outcomes in school, graduation, and less likely to be justice involved. The ROI is really high - a few dollars of pre-K saves many dollars of prison later. I'll let someone else critique that research, but it does show that the sooner we invest in children's education, the better off as a society we are.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, an early literacy program that costs $25 per year per child to mail age-appropriate books each month to a child's home from birth to age five, correlates strongly with better educational outcomes.  A little timely investment at that stage of life can go a LONG way.

When our kids came to us as their third foster home, they brought their Imagination Library books with them. One of the few things they had that had their name on them and they could call their own. The hardest part about the program was explaining to a 5 or 6-year-old (I don't remember if it was through age 5 or not) why Dolly wasn't sending them books anymore. Great program.

[Anselm]

I would like better decisions with the money we are spending right now at community colleges.  My school refuses to do proper testing, placement and advising.  Pick the right school, program and classes from the start.   I used to get a class of nursing students taking math.   Some were right out of high school and knew everything.  Others dropped out 30 years ago and could not handle basic algebra. 

[apl68]

Research shows that students who had pre-K have dramatically better outcomes in school, graduation, and less likely to be justice involved. The ROI is really high - a few dollars of pre-K saves many dollars of prison later. I'll let someone else critique that research, but it does show that the sooner we invest in children's education, the better off as a society we are.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, an early literacy program that costs $25 per year per child to mail age-appropriate books each month to a child's home from birth to age five, correlates strongly with better educational outcomes.  A little timely investment at that stage of life can go a LONG way.

When our kids came to us as their third foster home, they brought their Imagination Library books with them. One of the few things they had that had their name on them and they could call their own. The hardest part about the program was explaining to a 5 or 6-year-old (I don't remember if it was through age 5 or not) why Dolly wasn't sending them books anymore. Great program.

We run the I-Library program for our county.  After years of slow growth, we finally got enough grant funding last year to extend the program to the entire county.  Now we have over 50% of the county's eligible children enrolled.  We're going for 60-80%.

My home town, where the schools had declined badly over the years (They were okay when I was growing up), worked at signing all local pre-K children up for I-Library.  And their Third Grade reading level scores went way up over the space of just a few years.

[Vkw10]

Pre-K expansion is a good idea, because it gets children into literacy rich environments with lots of interaction and minimal passive screen time. When we obtained custody of Nephew, age five, I studied the data on school success. Early and frequent interaction with text correlated highly with reading on grade level in fourth grade. Reading on grade level in fourth grade was highly correlated with almost every measure of success in high school, from SAT scores to graduation. Pre-K improves a child's chance of later school success, especially when they come from low-income homes or homes where parents don't realize the importance of or have time/energy for reading aloud, counting games, and other activities.

Making community college more affordable would be particularly valuable if the focus is on training for trades and occupations that don't require a four-year degree. We need people to do a wide range of jobs, so pushing everyone towards a four year degree is a disservice both to the student who doesn't have aptitude, interest, or preparation for bachelor's program and for our country.

[apl68]

Making community college more affordable would be particularly valuable if the focus is on training for trades and occupations that don't require a four-year degree. We need people to do a wide range of jobs, so pushing everyone towards a four year degree is a disservice both to the student who doesn't have aptitude, interest, or preparation for bachelor's program and for our country.

There has been a growing realization of this in recent years.  Our school guidance counselor is quite open about not pushing students who aren't good prospects for four-year college into it.  Some would consider this a lamentable attitude that shortchanges students, but I can assure you that this man very much has students' interests at heart.  And he has enough years to experience to understand that four-year college for all just isn't realistic.  Trying to force students who just aren't college material into four-year college is an expensive recipe for frustration and failure.

[mamselle]

My aunt started Ohio's voc-tech high school program back in the 1950s, I think it was.

Similar upper-level courses as a follow-on would make sense, too, but at least in her case, the upper-level/-class community school systems gave her program a very hard time, didn't want to help fund it as part of the state system, etc.

One hopes that sort of resistance has lessened, but it would be something to look out for in this case, as well, I suspect.

M.

[fishbrains]

Making community college more affordable would be particularly valuable if the focus is on training for trades and occupations that don't require a four-year degree. We need people to do a wide range of jobs, so pushing everyone towards a four year degree is a disservice both to the student who doesn't have aptitude, interest, or preparation for bachelor's program and for our country.

There has been a growing realization of this in recent years.  Our school guidance counselor is quite open about not pushing students who aren't good prospects for four-year college into it.  Some would consider this a lamentable attitude that shortchanges students, but I can assure you that this man very much has students' interests at heart.  And he has enough years to experience to understand that four-year college for all just isn't realistic.  Trying to force students who just aren't college material into four-year college is an expensive recipe for frustration and failure.

Yes. And this idea that 2-year students must major in Nursing to make good money needs some remediation. Our one-year/two-year certificate/AAS students who pursue HVAC or welding make just as much money and find jobs immediately. Our local prison can't fill jobs in the $50-60K with benefits range. Not matching our high school students to good careers that currently exist (and will exist into the future) hasn't served my region well.

Of course, parents' idea that their kid will graduate from high school and get a job at the local plant for life like their grandpappy did needs to disappear as well.