Early education is emerging as a priority topic for the Texas Legislature, marking an opportunity to center the needs of our youngest learners. On Tuesday, August 13, Good Reason Houston CEO Cary Wright was invited to testify before the House Public Education Committee at their interim hearings, demonstrating the critical importance of high quality pre-K for later academic success. Below is a summary of his testimony.
As an organization committed to ensuring high-quality education for all children from pre-K through 12th grade, Good Reason Houston greatly appreciates the focus both the Texas House and Senate have placed on early literacy and math outcomes during the Legislative interim. Early childhood is a pivotal period in a child’s development, making early learning a critical area for legislative focus.
Texas has made great strides in early education beginning in 1995 with required public pre-K for educationally disadvantaged children. The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) has consistently ranked Texas in the top ten states in the nation for four-year-old pre-K access. The Legislature has continued this investment through landmark legislation, including:
- Instituting high-quality pre-K standards (HB 4, 84R),
- Reducing class sizes (SB 2081, 87R),
- Supporting pre-K partnerships (HB 2607, 87R & HB 1615, 88R), and
- Expanding pre-K to full day and increasing funding for early education (HB 3, 86R).
HIGH QUALITY PRE-K DIRECTLY SUPPORTS LITERACY AND MATH OUTCOMES
Our investments in pre-K have yielded notable results, particularly for our highest-need learners in the Houston area. Good Reason Houston’s analysis shows eligible students who attend pre-K are more than twice as likely to be ready for kindergarten compared to those who do not. This benefit is especially pronounced for eligible economically disadvantaged students and for Emergent Bilingual students who are 2.5 times as likely to be kindergarten ready after attending pre-K. Kindergarten readiness is a strong indicator of 3rd grade reading proficiency, which in turn is a predictor for later academic outcomes, including postsecondary success.
These results are in line with a body of national research showing that pre-K programs positively impact reading and math proficiency beyond kindergarten and contribute to postsecondary outcomes like college access and wages.
High quality pre-K instruction sets the foundation for language acquisition, phonics, and numeracy, driving later reading and math outcomes. Students expand their vocabulary, learn to identify letters and correlate them with sounds, and begin to break down words and sentences. While math is not currently covered by our state kindergarten readiness assessments, early numeracy skills also develop in pre-K as students learn to count
recognize numbers, and begin to understand symbolic math concepts like “more than” or “less than.”
While not directly related to literacy and numeracy, pre-K instruction also establishes soft skills that are critical to academic success including behavioral regulation and executive functions like paying attention, organizing, and managing time.
STRATEGIC INVESTMENT IN EARLY EARLY EDUCATION CAN SUPPORT QUALITY PRE-K
The Early Education Allotment introduced by HB 3 (86R) provided groundbreaking support for educationally disadvantaged students in pre-K through 3rd grade focused on math and literacy. While this funding can be spent to support pre-K, only students in grades K-3 generate funding under the allotment weight.
As the Legislature considers how to best allocate funding for public education, we respectfully urge legislators to consider expanding the Early Education Allotment to include weighted funding for pre-K students. This would not only provide targeted funding that could be used to improve quality early instruction, it would directly incentivize districts to expand access to pre-K programming.
STRATEGIC INVESTMENT IN EARLY EARLY EDUCATION CAN SUPPORT QUALITY PRE-K
The Early Education Allotment introduced by HB 3 (86R) provided groundbreaking support for educationally disadvantaged students in pre-K through 3rd grade focused on math and literacy. While this funding can be spent to support pre-K, only students in grades K-3 generate funding under the allotment weight.
As the Legislature considers how to best allocate funding for public education, we respectfully urge legislators to consider expanding the Early Education Allotment to include weighted funding for pre-K students. This would not only provide targeted funding that could be used to improve quality early instruction, it would directly incentivize districts to expand access to pre-K programming.
PRE-K SHOULD BE SUPPORTED BY STRONG K-2 INSTRUCTION TO MAINTAIN STUDENT PROGRESS
Research consistently demonstrates the positive impact of pre-K on student outcomes. However, these academic benefits are most pronounced when pre-K programs are of high quality and are complemented by strong elementary instruction. To ensure students achieve proficiency in reading and math by third grade, it is crucial to implement effective K-2 screening and intervention strategies.
Last session, HB 2162 proposed evidence-based progress monitoring for early literacy, aimed at providing educators with actionable data to offer targeted support before students fall significantly behind. We encourage the Legislature to revisit this proposal and consider a similar approach for early math development.
ADDITIONAL BARRIERS TO QUALITY PRE-K
Through our work with district partners, Good Reason Houston has identified key barriers to high-quality pre-K programming:
Effective and Specialized Educators: Recent research from the Houston Education Research Consortium indicates that only 16% of pre-K teachers in Houston are certified in elementary education, and just 10% are certified in early childhood education. Statewide, there are only ten educator preparation programs offering EC-3 certifications.
HB 3 recognized the need for effective educators in early education by requiring districts to certify that highly effective educators were prioritized in grades K-2. This section could be revisited to not only include pre-K but also offer clarity and enforcement to guide district staffing.
Consistent Measurement of Pre-K Quality: While Texas utilizes Texas Rising Star in child care programming, the state currently lacks a consistent system to measure quality for pre-K. Systems like the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) offer research-backed measures of teacher-student interactions and are crucial for effective instruction.
Several districts across the state, including Dallas ISD and, locally, Aldine ISD have been in the process of implementing CLASS. After the first year of piloting CLASS, Aldine ISD reported an improvement in instructional support, classroom organization, and emotional support. A peer state to watch is Louisiana, which has implemented CLASS as a quality measure across all child care, pre-K, and head start programs.
Facilities and Logistical Challenges: In Houston, only 39% of eligible students enroll in a pre-K program. One of the biggest hurdles cited by our district partners is facilities. It can cost over $1 million to retrofit classrooms to meet the requirements of young learners and partnerships with child care providers offer an opportunity to capitalize on existing infrastructure.
While the legislature has made strides to increase technical support for pre-K partnerships, districts still cite logistics as a barrier to success. Last session, HB 1614 looked to fix one of these logistical hurdles by ensuring funding eligibility was uniform between child care and free public pre-K.
As the Legislative session approaches in January, we will continue to share insights from our work supporting school districts across Houston. We are grateful that early education is top of mind for our legislators and hope these suggestions will be taken under consideration as we move to implement student-focused state policies.
- NIEER, State of Pre-school Year Books (2003-2023). https://nieer.org/our-work/policy-landscapes/state-preschool-yearbook
- Good Reason Houston, Kindergarten Readiness (2024). Analysis based on the Texas Academic Performance Reports for the 2023-2024 school year. https://rptsvr1.tea.texas.gov/perfreport/tapr/2023/index.html
- Learning Policy Institute, Untangling the Evidence on Preschool Effectiveness: Insights for Policymakers (2019). https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/media/302/download?inline&file=Untangling_Evidence_Preschool_Effectiveness_BRIEF.pdf
- Learning Policy Institute, Untangling the Evidence on Preschool Effectiveness: Insights for Policymakers (2019). https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/media/302/download?inline&file=Untangling_Evidence_Preschool_Effectiveness_BRIEF.pdf
- Houston Education Research Consortium at the Rice University Kinder Institute, Pre-K Participation and Student Outcomes in the Houston Region (2024).
- Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, CLASS Matters: Increasing Quality in Louisiana Early Childhood Programs (2018). https://policyinstitutela.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Class-Matters_Increasing-Quality-in-Louisiana-Early-Childhood-Programs_final-052218.pdf. Bassok, Magouirk & Markowitz. Systemwide Quality Improvement in Early Childhood Education: Evidence From Louisiana (2021). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/23328584211011610
Trista Bishop-Watt
Director, Government Relations
