New Column: Jeb Bush, Pre-K Politics, and Pre-K Policy

As we’ve noted several times here in the Early Education Initiative, pre-K is going through a prolonged period of political popularity. It’s attracting lots of attention from leaders on both sides of the aisle. Unfortunately, it’s one thing to show interest in pre-K’s potential and quite another to design — and invest the resources to implement — a high-quality pre-K program that aligns with the K–3 grades.

At The 74 Million‘s recent education summit, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) took a shot at staking out some pre-K turf as part of his campaign. In a column published today, I explore why he’s got lots of work to do if he wants to get serious about early education:

Pre-K’s political potency has its roots in good policy: done right, it improves children’s lives and produces long-term public savings. But it’s much easier to talk about early education’s cathartic potential than it is to actually invest the considerable resources it takes to reach that potential. (Pre-k done on the cheap just doesn’t work – check out these reports my colleagues and I recently published on the challenges facing American early education — and some ideas for delivering on its considerable promise.)

Click here to read the rest!“