As school approaches, plenty of pre-K seats still open
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Today marks four weeks until the start of the school year and there are nearly 150 open seats in Indianapolis Public Schools' free, public pre-kindergarten program.
Driving the news: IPS reconfigured its pre-K program this year as part of the district's larger Rebuilding Stronger overhaul, spreading pre-K classrooms among more elementary schools rather than concentrating most of them at a pre-K center.
- The district said the current enrollment pattern mirrors that of previous years and expects the spots to fill as the start of school gets closer.
Why it matters: Studies show that 4-year-olds who attend a high-quality pre-kindergarten program are more ready for school, have more language and literacy skills in kindergarten, and those results hold true as kids progress through school.
State of play: Indiana lacks enough high-quality early childhood education programs to serve all of its young children, yet seats in programs continue to go unfilled.
- Early Learning Indiana often has waiting lists for infant and toddler programs but openings in 4-year-olds' classrooms.
- On My Way Pre-K, the state's grant program offering free pre-kindergarten to qualifying low-income families, also isn't fully utilized.
- Pre-K classrooms at IPS' most sought-after elementary schools — CFI 27, the Montessori programs and both Butler lab schools, as well as some others — are full. But classrooms at several neighborhood schools still have openings.
The intrigue: While Indy actually has enough seats in early learning programs for all of its young children, fewer than half of those are considered "high-quality," said Erin Kissling, chief learning officer for Early Learning Indiana.
- High-quality programs are those that do more than just provide a healthy, safe and enriching environment for kids — they use appropriate curriculum to guide children's development and school readiness.
Zoom out: Kissling said they have seen fewer families choosing to put young children in group settings post-COVID.
- Cost and location can also be barriers to access for middle- and low-income families that may not qualify for assistance or have reliable transportation.
Of note: Attending a pre-K program does not give a student preference in the kindergarten enrollment lottery for a spot at that school.
What they're saying: Patrick Herrel, director of enrollment and options for IPS, said more of the district's 700 seats are full now than at this time last year.
- Herrel said it tends to be families with higher needs who enroll later in the process, rather than through the spring enrollment lottery when the spots at the most popular choice programs fill.
- "We don't want to push really hard on the lottery and make sure everyone goes through that," he said. "If we did that exclusively, we wouldn't have seats available for our neediest families."