More than three-fourths of Montgomery County’s class of 2022 entered school this year ready for the rigors of kindergarten — up 15 percent since 2001.
About 68 percent of their peers in Prince George’s were ready to learn, down slightly from last year, but up one third in the past nine years. The numbers were released as part of Maryland’s annual analysis of school readiness, which tracks how well the youngest students perform on measures ranging from scientific thinking to social interactions.
Statewide, 78 percent of kindergartners arrived at school fully prepared, up from 49 percent since 2001 when early childhood education arrived on state lawmakers’ political radars.
The improvements have come as the state and counties have made heavy investments in pre-kindergarten options, many of which are available free at public schools.
Spending on pre-kindergarten is difficult to measure because it is not separated from K-12 spending in school budgets, but Montgomery Councilwoman Valerie Ervin said the growth has been significant and worth the costs.
“The most important thing we can actually do is fund the programs, like this, that we know work,” Ervin said. “And what’s happening anecdotally is that many parents can no longer afford private pre-kindergarten.”
In fact, the share of students entering kindergarten from a public pre-school has increased even in the past several years. In Montgomery, it has grown to 43 percent, up from 40 percent in 2006. In Prince George’s, it has ballooned to 58 percent of all entering kindergartners, up from 37 percent in 2006.
In both counties and throughout the state, public pre-kindergarten has become the most popular option, beating out private programs and home care.
But while the achievement gains have been steady, some caution not to conflate them with lengthening students’ time in public school.
“Don’t be easily lulled into the assumption that you’ll get better prepared kindergartners if a larger percentage of kids go to publicly financed pre-kindergarten,” said the Fordham Foundation’s Chester Finn, former U.S. assistant secretary of education. Finn has argued for better options for the students most likely to be underprepared, but against the expense of pre-kindergarten for all.
“Educentric programs could be just as easily delivered by private operators,” Finn said.
