Light Research Hasn't Slowed Pre-K Expansion

Focusing on young children is one of the few things Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton seem to agree on—after all, who wouldn’t want to help little kids? But the political palatability of the issue could also be one reason early-education programs that may not actually help young children succeed are allowed to flourish.

New York City recently adopted a universal pre-k model, following the implementation of similar systems in places like Georgia and Oklahoma. The Georgia program, rolled out in 1995, was the first in the nation to provide all 4-year-olds with access to pre-k and is funded by the state’s lottery. Deeply conservative Oklahoma is positive, long-term effects for the state’s young participants, particularly when it comes to mitigating achievement gaps in later years.