(Aug. 13, 2019) — The Urban Education Institute at UTSA has released a full report on Pre-K 4 SA’s community impact.
In January, Pre-K 4 SA and UTSA announced preliminary findings of the Urban Education Institute’s community impact study that Pre-K 4 SA produced positive academic outcomes for students enrolled in the first year of the program (2013-2014 cohort). The full report is consistent with the preliminary results.
Director of the Urban Education Institute, Mike Villarreal, found early evidence that indicates that high- quality prekindergarten can be taken to scale and effectively delivered through a public system.
Evidence also suggests Pre-K 4 SA caused an increase in public prekindergarten enrollment of 9.07 percentage points since the 2012 election.
The study found that Pre-K 4 SA amplified the positive impact of public prekindergarten. While the average public prekindergarten program improved student outcomes for its enrolled students, Pre-K 4 SA produced larger student gains.
On average, students enrolled in Pre-K 4 SA’s initial class had stronger STAAR exam scores on third grade reading (+3.8 percentage points) and math (+4.5 percentage points), less need for special education services (decline of 31%), and better attendance (+13.4 days or 2%) than students who did not participate in public prekindergarten.
Attendance is directly linked to school funding as well as student success. The study estimates San Antonio public schools received approximately $17.4 million more in funding due to increased attendance of students who enrolled in Pre-K 4 SA ($3.9 million) and the increased public pre-k population that followed the Pre-K 4 SA 2012 election ($13.5 million).
Additionally, the study found that Pre-K 4 SA made the largest difference for those students identified as economically disadvantaged or limited English proficient.
