An Analysis of State KRA Data (2021 & 2022) and Overall Trends
Jamie O’Leary, MPA, Niamh McLoughlin, PhD, and Sunny L. Munn, PhD
Since 2014, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther has made significant investments in high-quality pre-kindergarten (pre-K) through the Early Start Columbus (ESC) initiative. ESC partners with the Ready 4 Success (R4S) program at The Ohio State University’s Schoenbaum Family Center to provide professional development opportunities for early childhood educators and coaching for the implementation of Read It Again! (starting in 2022), an early language and literacy curriculum supplement. ESC links qualifying families to high-quality pre-K programs at low or no cost to prepare children for kindergarten.
By investing in funding for eligible families to attend highly rated pre-K programs, the City hopes to enhance kindergarten readiness and enable more children and families to arrive at school prepared for success in formal schooling. There is broad evidence regarding the role of high-quality pre-K in preparing children for schooling and later life achievements.
This report analyzes data to determine if ESC helps prepare Columbus children for kindergarten. Specifically, it examines data on the kindergarten readiness scores of children who participated in the ESC program and for whom kindergarten readiness data were available the following year. In other words, we asked: how did children enrolled in pre-K programs receiving ESC funds fare the next year at kindergarten entry when they were assessed on their skills? And how did this compare to children across Franklin County and statewide?
KEY FINDING
Across three years of data, according to the state’s KRA, children who have attended ESC-funded pre-K programs arrive to kindergarten ready to learn at higher rates than their peers countywide or statewide.