Washington’s Free Pre-K Attendance Keeps Rising, Along with State’s Early Learning Profile

Washington State took an important step in early education last month, enrolling the 150,000th student in its free state-funded pre-kindergarten initiative, the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program, moving it closer to the front of the early learning movement.

The 20-year-old program is more than classrooms and curriculums. It offers supporting services, such as dental visits – ECEAP funded dental care and follow ups for more than 60,000 children – and help with the English language, as part of its effort to get kids from poorer families onto the same footing as other students by the time the first kindergarten bell rings.

The enrollment is more than a number because it reflects Washington’s expanding commitment to early ed, specifically preschool and pre-k. Washington ranked 6th in state spending among the 38 states that spend their own money on preschool, and it holds the same ranking for per child spending, according to “The State of Preschool 2008” by The National Institute for Early Education Research. However, it ranked a lowly 32nd in access of four year olds to pre-k.

"Children living in poverty face more challenges in entering school ready to learn, whether it’s exposure to books and reading in their homes or an unchecked medical issue," Department of Early Learning chief Bette Hyde said in a statement.

by Paul Nyhan, Birth to Thrive Online