As the state continues an aggressive path focused on raising teacher pay, eliminating Common Core by implementing the BEST curriculum, and potentially increasing accountability for underperforming schools, we're learning more about the effectiveness of Florida’s Pre-K program. Florida VPK, or Voluntary Prekindergarten is offered for free to all 4-year-olds with nearly 80% participation statewide. Nationwide studies have shown pre-K often leads to better performance throughout grade school and eventually to higher graduation rates. The latest information from Florida's Department of Education illustrates those points clearly.
FDLE’s annual “Readiness” ratings, which determine if Kindergarten students have the fundamentals needed to be successful in picking up the curriculum show that 53% of all students are “ready” when starting kindergarten.
Having barely more than half of our kids ready to learn doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence, however, we do see how pre-k impacts readiness. 63% of children who completed Florida’s VPK program were “ready” compared to just 39% who didn’t participate. Clearly the pre-k program has a significant impact on overall readiness. We’re also seeing improvement. Last year only 42% of Florida’s students were ready and the biggest change year over year appears to be greater participation in VPK. Clearly, as a parent, it would appear that pre-k or like education is the way to go to set your kids up for the best possible start to their academic careers, starting with kindergarten.
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