State Legislators will once again debate giving the South Dakota Board of Education the authority to set standards for pre-k education programs. Currently, the state has no authority to set such standards. As outlined in Gov. Rounds’ 2010 Initiative, establishing preschool accreditation standards and preschool teacher certification standards is a priority for the administration and SDEA expects legislation to be introduced in the upcoming session.

South Dakota is one of only 12 states that do not offer a state pre-k program. However, there are some school districts and local communities working with pilot projects. For these reasons there is a move to set uniform standards for the state.

SDEA President Donna DeKraai says establishing a sound pre-k system will help the state close the achievement gap. "South Dakota has an opportunity to help give children a jump start in their academic career," said DeKraai. "This will especially help those kids who are struggling to overcome their family’s financial difficulties."

Early childhood intervention programs have been shown to produce benefits in academic achievement, behavior, educational progression and attainment, delinquency and crime and labor market success.

A High/Scope Perry Preschool Study identified the effects of a quality preschool program for impoverished young children. The study compared children in the program and not in the program and found that the children who attended the program reported a lower incidence of criminal activity, earned more money and graduated from high school at higher rates to their non-participating peers.

Research also estimates that pre-k preparation gaps account for one-half of the academic achievement differences that exist between black and white students as their schooling progresses – a gap that, on average, will amount to a difference of four grade levels in high school.

DeKraai said the Association believes early childhood education programs should include a full continuum of services for parents and children, including childcare, child development, developmentally appropriate curricula, special education and appropriate bias-free screening devices. These programs must be staffed by the appropriate ratio of teacher, administrators and support staff who are prepared in early childhood and child development.

"SDEA/NEA certainly has some ideas of what constitutes a sound pre-school programs that is based on data and research," said DeKraai. "The legislation we are working on simply gives the South Dakota Board of Education and the rest of the education community the ability to have the discussion and set standards based on sound methods."

Legislation presented during last session was defeated out of concern that setting standards would lead to compulsory attendance of three and four your olds. However, SDEA and the bill’s proponents say it is not their intent to make pre-k programs mandatory; rather they want to make sure preschools receiving tax dollars are providing the best programs for parents who choose to enroll their children in such programs.