From 2002 to 2017, the percentage of four-year-olds enrolled in state pre-K rose from 14 percent to 33 percent. Right now, there is a strong and politically bipartisan push to further increase access to government-funded pre-K, based on the premise that free and available pre-K is the surest way to provide the opportunity for all children to succeed in school and life. But does free pre-K education have predictable and cost-effective positive impacts on children’s academic success? Unfortunately, the evidence to support this predicate is weak. To learn more, read “More Evidence That Benefits of Government-Funded Pre-K Are Overblown” on the EdNext.org blog.

—Education Next