With pre-school enrollment dropping by as much as 17% during the COVID-19 pandemic, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021's States with the Best & Worst Early Education Systems, as well as accompanying videos and expert commentary.
In order to determine the best early education systems in America, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 12 key metrics. The data set ranges from share of school districts that offer a state pre-K program to number of pre-K quality benchmarks met and total reported spending per child enrolled in pre-K.
| States with the Best Early Education Systems | States with the Worst Early Education Systems |
| 1. Arkansas | 42. New York |
| 2. Nebraska | 43. Montana |
| 3. District of Columbia | 44. Idaho |
| 4. Maryland | 45. Kansas |
| 5. Alabama | 46. New Hampshire |
| 6. Rhode Island | 47. Minnesota |
| 7. Vermont | 48. Massachusetts |
| 8. West Virginia | 49. Missouri |
| 9. New Jersey | 50. North Dakota |
| 10. Oregon | 51. Indiana |
Best vs. Worst
- 12 states, such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and South Carolina, have the highest share of school districts that offer a state pre-K program, 100 percent, which is 9.7 times higher than in New Jersey, the state with the lowest at 10.33 percent.
- Vermont has the highest share of 4-year-olds enrolled in pre-K, pre-K Special Education and Head Start programs, 84.30 percent, which is 6.7 times higher than in Idaho, the state with the lowest at 12.50 percent.
- Hawaii has the highest income requirement for state pre-K eligibility, $60,120, which is 6.9 times higher than in Minnesota, which has one of the lowest at $8,710.
- The District of Columbia has the highest total spending per child enrolled in preschool, $19,463, which is 36.9 times higher than in North Dakota, which has one of the lowest at $527.
- South Carolina, Maryland and New York have some of the lowest monthly child care co-payment fees (as share of family income), 1 percent, which is 16 times lower than in Hawaii, the state with the highest at 16 percent.
To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit:
https://wallethub.com/edu/
What are the most important factors that influence a child’s educational development?
“Five factors influence child development the most: genetics, environment, health and nutrition, early access to high-quality childhood education, and family. The only factor we cannot influence is genetics, but all the others are in our power to change for better educational outcomes.
The family factors relate to parent’s education, family income, stability of home life, low exposure to toxic stress, early access to books and play materials.”
Irina Falls – Professor, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
“The factors that most strongly affect educational attainment take place before children ever enter a school building. If we want to help all our children do better, we need to pay greater attention to their families and early childhood programs. For example, parents differ in how much they talk with their children, expanding their vocabularies, and this predicts children’s later reading performance. High-quality early care and education programs predict children’s later school performance, and even their high school graduation rates and college attendance! Some school districts have noticed these facts and redirected some of their funds to high-quality, early childhood programs for parents and their 2-4-year-olds. Each dollar has its biggest positive impact in those earliest years.”
Dave Riley, Ph.D. – Rothermel-Bascom Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison
How has the pandemic affected early childhood education in both short and long term?
“The pandemic has affected every aspect of life for families and their young children. The number of women who have left the workforce will have repercussions on their families’ financial stability for you to come. Many early childhood programs closed during the pandemic and are struggling to re-open. With such poor funding historically, most programs could not sustain the losses they incurred. And yet, program staff worked miracles for the families they served. They helped families cope with remote work arrangements, they conducted regular wellness checks with the families to help them cope with this disaster, and they provided support as families dealt with unimaginable loss. And surely, many programs opened their doors to serve the children of essential workers at every level. Early childhood staff understood that the grocery worker was just as essential as the EMT during the pandemic.”
Sherry M. Cleary – University Dean, New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute
“The immediate negative effects of the pandemic can be seen in school disruption, unemployment rate, mortalities, and mental health issues. It may take some time for families to come back to their normal functioning. Hence, support, collaboration, and engagement in multiple domains and different engagement levels in society are imperative to decrease the short-term and long-term effects of the current pandemic on early childhood education and U.S. families.
M. Hassan Raza, CFLE – Assistant Professor, Missouri State University
Is education spending a direct measure of education quality?
“In most cases, YES. There is horrific inequity when it comes to funding available to communities and families. Early childhood education is the most cost-effective way to ensure a child’s health and well-being for the rest of his life. And yet, too often the quality of early childhood experiences a child has been determined by the socio-economic status of his family and the community. Poorly paid teachers, inadequate services, and spaces (classrooms, programs, and schools), and lack of highly effective leadership are all a product of under-funding.”
Sherry M. Cleary – University Dean, New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute
“Education spending can be a direct measure of education quality if the money is spent on the correct components. First, more money should be invested in the preparation of highly qualified early childhood educators by providing merit-based scholarships, strengthening the teaching professional standards, expanding practicum student experiences during preservice training, and coaching new teachers after they graduate. Secondly, money should be invested in programs that engage parents and communities in early childhood education, as well as developing and implementing research-based curricula. And finally, money should be spent in enhancing the environments (inside and outside) where learning experiences take place.”
Irina Falls – Professor, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
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