Indiana ranked 43rd on early education in Education Week’s national “Quality Counts” report.
The state got a ‘D’, worse than the nation’s ‘D+’ average.
Holly Yettick, Education Week’s Research Center director, says low enrollment numbers in programs like kindergarten and Head Start contributed to its ranking.
She says only 30 percent of eligible students attend the federally funded Head Start program and less than three-fourths of eligible kindergartners attend school.
“Another place where Indiana didn’t do so well is the overall preschool enrollment – so that is one place where perhaps the state program might down the road make a difference when it gets off the ground,” Yettick says.
The report found that 40 percent of Indiana’s 3 and 4-year-olds were in preschool last year, compared to the national average of 47 percent.
Governor Mike Pence is calling for additional funding for the pre-K pilot and proposals in the General Assembly seek expanding the pilot to 13 counties.
