Title I Preschool Education: More Children Served, but Gauging Effect on
School Readiness Difficult (Letter Report, 09/20/2000, GAO/HEHS-00-171).

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act's Title I program for preschool
education, preschool education's school readiness, focusing on: (1) the
extent to which title I funds are used to support education or
developmentally appropriate activities for preschool children, aged
birth to 5 years; and (2) what is known about the effectiveness of title
I-funded programs for preschool children in preparing them for school.

GAO noted that: (1) during the 1999-2000 school year, an estimated 17
percent of the school districts that received title I funds spent an
estimated $407 million on preschool services, making title I second only
to Head Start in its level of federal preschool education funding; (2)
the remaining 83 percent that did not use their funds to support
preschool education services cited, among other things, a greater need
to use title I funds for older children; (3) school districts used their
funds to serve an estimated 313,000 preschool children--equal to about 8
percent of the children who will eventually enter kindergarten; (4)
almost all of these children were between the ages of 3 and 5, and they
received a variety of services funded with title I as well as other
federal, state, and local funding; (5) children were served in every
state, with Texas serving the largest number of children; and (6) the
Department of Education lacks the information to measure title I's
effect on children's school readiness, but it may be able to structure
its design of a planned title I preschool study to collect such
information.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  HEHS-00-171
     TITLE:  Title I Preschool Education: More Children Served, but
	     Gauging Effect on School Readiness Difficult
      DATE:  09/20/2000
   SUBJECT:  Preschool education
	     Disadvantaged persons
	     Preschoolers
	     Education program evaluation
	     Aid for education
	     Performance measures
IDENTIFIER:  Dept. of Education Title I Program

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GAO/HEHS-00-171

Appendix I: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments

18

Table 1: Major Federal Programs Supporting Preschool Education 8

Figure 1: Growth in the Number of Preschool Children Served
With Title I Funds 6

Figure 2: Estimated Percentage of Title I Funds Used by School
Districts to Support Preschool Education Services 9

Figure 3: Estimated Percentage of School Districts That Received
Title I Funds and Used Them to Serve Preschool Children 10

Figure 4: Estimated Percentage of Title I-Funded Preschool Children Served
by the Largest and Smaller School Districts 11

Figure 5: Comparison of the Race/Ethnicity of Children Served by the Largest
and Smaller School Districts 12

Figure 6: Comparison of the Types of Services Provided by the
Largest and Smaller School Districts 13

ESEA Elementary and Secondary Education Act

HHS Department of Health and Human Services

Health, Education, and
Human Services Division

B-284749

September 20, 2000

The Honorable George V. Voinovich
Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight of
Government Management, Restructuring
and the District of Columbia
Committee on Governmental Affairs
United States Senate

Dear Mr. Chairman:

Each year, about 4 million children enter our nation's kindergartens, and
according to teachers, some lack the skills necessary to succeed in school.
Children from low-income families are most at risk of failing academically
because they are more likely to be exposed to drug abuse, violence, and
unhealthy living conditions. To help schools meet the needs of children who
are educationally and economically disadvantaged, funding through title I of
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) serves students from birth
to age 21.1 In fiscal year 1999, title I provided about $7.9 billion to
serve about 12 million children. Historically, most children served by title
I have been in kindergarten through grade 12, but a growing number of
preschoolers are also being served.

Concerns over children's school readiness have placed an increasing emphasis
on ensuring that children have the necessary skills to succeed in school. In
light of this and the current discussions regarding reauthorization of title
I, you asked us to determine (1) the extent to which title I funds are used
to support education and/or developmentally appropriate activities for
preschool children, aged birth to 5 years, and (2) what is known about the
effectiveness of title I-funded programs for preschool children in preparing
them for school.

To respond, we surveyed a stratified, nationally representative sample drawn
from the approximately 16,000 school districts nationwide. We sent our
survey questionnaire to school districts, which provided information on the
schools within the districts as well; thus, our estimates are based on
school and school district information. Specifically, we surveyed all of the
111 largest school districts--those with 40,000 or more students. These
school districts served about a quarter of all public school-aged children
nationwide. In addition, we randomly selected about 400 of the smaller
school districts--those with fewer than 40,000 students. Our overall
response rate was 95 percent, with 100-percent and 94-percent response rates
from the largest and smaller school districts, respectively. We interviewed
Department of Education officials and reviewed Education's most recent data
on the number of preschool children served with title I funds, by state. We
also reviewed Education's Strategic and Performance Plans to obtain
information on the agency's efforts to evaluate title I's effectiveness in
preparing children for school. We conducted our work between February 2000
and July 2000 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing
standards.

During the 1999-2000 school year, an estimated 17 percent of the school
districts that received title I funds spent an estimated $407 million on
preschool services, making title I second only to Head Start in its level of
federal preschool education funding. The remaining 83 percent that did not
use their funds to support preschool education services cited, among other
things, a greater need to use title I funds for older children. School
districts used their funds to serve an estimated 313,000 preschool
children--equal to about 8 percent of the children who will eventually enter
kindergarten. Almost all of these children were between the ages of 3 and 5,
and they received a variety of services funded with title I as well as other
federal, state, and local funding. Children were served in every state, with
Texas serving the largest number of children.

Currently, Education lacks the information to measure title I's effect on
children's school readiness, but it may be able to structure its design of a
planned title I preschool study to collect such information. Recognizing
that isolating title I's effect from the effect of other funding that
supports preschool children may be difficult, we are recommending that
Education, as part of its planned title I preschool study, explore the
feasibility of isolating and measuring title I's effect on school readiness.
In commenting on our report, Education agreed with our recommendation.

Growing out of the War on Poverty in 1965, title I is the single largest
federal investment for elementary and secondary education. Administered by
Education, its primary purpose is to help local education agencies and
schools improve the teaching and learning of children who are failing, or
are most at risk of failing, to meet challenging academic standards. In
support of that goal, title I targeted $7.9 billion, primarily to
high-poverty schools, in fiscal year 1999 and distributed these funds to
local school districts through state education agencies. The amount each
school district receives is determined by a complex formula that
incorporates, among other factors, the average per-pupil expenditure in the
state, the number of children in poverty, and previous allocations to the
state and to the district. According to Education, about 90 percent of all
school districts receive title I funds. School districts or local schools
may choose to use some portion of these funds to serve preschool children.

According to Education's data, the number of preschool children served with
title I funds is growing (see fig. 1). Title I funding reached about 300,000
in school year 1997-98, the most recent year for which Education had data.
The period of rapid growth began around school year 1994-95. This
accelerated growth began about the time of the 1994 reauthorization of title
I, which expanded the focus of title I by increasing the number of schools
eligible to use their title I funds to improve the school as a whole, rather
than targeting specific eligible children. This change in eligibility
consequently increased the number of children of all ages that could be
served with title I funds. Prior to 1994, only schools with 75 percent or
more of their students living in poverty could use their funds to improve
the whole school. The 1994 reauthorization lowered the poverty eligibility
threshold to 50 percent.

Note: Education did not collect these data for school years 1994-95 and
1995-96. School year 1998-99 data are not yet available from Education.

Source: Department of Education state performance reports for school years
1980-81 through 1996-97.

In addition to title I, the federal government provides funding specifically
targeted for low-income preschool children through Education's $135 million
Even Start program and the Department of Health and Human Service's (HHS)
$4.7 billion Head Start program, the largest preschool education program.
Although they are separate programs, ESEA requires that recipients that
serve preschool children with title I funds comply with Head Start's
performance standards, which prescribe, for example, student/teacher ratios,
classroom size, and staff qualifications. In addition, children who have
participated in a Head Start or an Even Start program at any time in the two
preceding years are automatically eligible for title I-funded services.
Title I funds can also be used to augment services provided by Head Start,
Even Start, and other early childhood development programs. To illustrate,
in cases where children are dually eligible for both Head Start and title I,
title I may be used to fund

ï¿½ education services, with Head Start funding the support services, such as
food or medical services; and/or

ï¿½ additional services for Head Start children, including extending the
number of days or hours children receive services.

This report is one in a recent series of GAO reports on early childhood
programs. Two reports examined what is known about the effectiveness of
selected early childhood programs in contributing to school readiness.2 A
third report discussed federal, state, and local early childhood programs
available to low-income families and the difficulties parents face in
acquiring such care.3 Our most recent report provided information on federal
programs that provide education and care to children under the age of 5.4

Districts

In school year 1999-2000, we estimate that school districts spent $407
million in title I funds to support preschool education services, making
title I second only to Head Start in terms of federal preschool education
funding in fiscal year 1999.5 These funds, in combination with other
federal, state, and local funding, supported a variety of services for an
estimated 313,000 preschool children--equal to about 8 percent of the
children who will eventually enter kindergarten each year.6 These services
include educational and medical services and social services. However,
because services were funded with both title I and non-title I funds, it is
difficult to determine the extent to which title I supported specific
services.

As shown below, title I represents the second largest source of federal
preschool education funding (table 1). Title I's contribution to preschool
education was smaller than Head Start's, but significantly larger than Even
Start's in terms of the number of children served and funding level.

 Preschool program/funding source Preschool funding  Number of children
                                                     served
 Head Starta                      $4.7 billion       826,016
 Title Ib                         $407 million       313,000
 Even Startc                      $135 million       28,000

aHead Start program information is based on HHS fiscal year 1999 data.

bTitle I information is based on school year 1999-2000 estimates from our
survey.

cThe preschool funding figure for the Even Start program is based on
Education's fiscal year 1999 data. This figure includes funds for early
childhood education as well as adult literacy and basic education and
parenting education. The figure for the number of children is Education's
fiscal year 1999 estimate of the number of children served below the age of
5, although children through age 7 are also served with the funding.

An estimated 17 percent of all school districts that received title I funds
used a portion of these funds to serve preschool children in school year
1999-2000.7 Most of these school districts used less than 10 percent of
their total title I funds for preschool children (see fig. 2). The remaining
83 percent of the school districts that received title I funds chose not to
use title I funds for preschools, with most citing a greater need to use
title I funds for older children or the availability of other sources of
funding for preschool-aged children as their primary reason. The largest
school districts were four times as likely as smaller school districts to
serve preschool children with title I funds (see fig. 3).

An estimated 313,000 preschool children were served with title I funds in
school year 1999-2000, and that number is expected to increase, according to
our survey responses. About one-third of the children served were in the
largest school districts (see fig. 4).

Support Preschool Education Services

Source: GAO survey.

and Used Them to Serve Preschool Children

Source: GAO survey.

Source: GAO survey.

Children were served in every state, according to Education.8 Five
states--Texas, New York, Florida, Illinois, and Louisiana--accounted for 53
percent of all the children served, with about a third of them located in
Texas.9 Almost all preschool children served were between the ages of 3 and
5, with less than 1 percent of them below the age of 3. Of the school
districts that served preschool children with title I funds, over 90 percent
established a minimum eligibility age of 3 or 4. District officials reported
adopting minimum age requirements for a variety of reasons, including the
more immediate need to serve children entering kindergarten, the lack of
adequate facilities for younger children, and the availability of other
types of programs for younger children.

Preschool children of varying racial and ethnic backgrounds were served,
with some differences between the largest and the smaller school districts
(see fig. 5).

and Smaller School Districts

Note: Percentages are estimates based on those school districts that
provided information on ethnicity. In addition, the sampling errors for the
smaller school districts are very large. Therefore, the percentages provide
only rough approximations of the actual percentages.

Source: GAO survey.

Children served with title I funds received a variety of services, as shown
in figure 6, but differences existed in the extent to which the largest and
smaller school districts provided these services. Education was the most
frequently provided service by both the largest and smaller school
districts; however, the largest school districts were more likely to provide
dental and social services.

Smaller School Districts

Source: GAO survey.

It is difficult to determine the importance of title I funds in providing a
specific service. Our survey results showed that title I funds often
constituted a small portion of school districts' total preschool budget and
that school districts combined title I funds with other funds. For example,
one school district reported that it supported services with eight different
sources of funding, with the largest share of funds coming from the state.

Currently, Education lacks the information it needs to measure title I's
effect on children's school readiness, but it is in the early stages of
designing a study to collect information on title I-funded programs for
preschool children. Because the design is in the formative stage, Education
may be able to structure it to collect information on title I's effect on
school readiness by comparing children who receive title I-funded services
with those who do not. Isolating and measuring title I's effect from that of
other funding effects may be difficult; thus, it may be necessary to explore
the feasibility of such an evaluation first.

Education currently does not have information that could be used to
determine title I's effect on school readiness, that is, evaluations that
compare children who receive title I-funded services with those who do not.
Education has conducted studies of title I services for school-aged
children, which is where most of its $7.9 billion funding has historically
been allocated; however, it has not conducted recent studies of title I
services for preschool children. Recently, the Office of Management and
Budget approved funding for the design of a study that will collect
information on preschool children's progress in language development,
reading readiness, and mathematical concepts. As work on designing the study
has not yet commenced, Education officials reported that they are exploring
various possibilities for the final study design. Other major programs, such
as Head Start and Even Start, are in the process of conducting or are
planning evaluations that compare children who receive their services with
those who do not.

Title I's Effect Challenging

Because a preschool program may use title I as part of multiple funding
sources, it may be difficult to determine what part of a program's effect on
school readiness can be attributed to title I. For example, in some
preschool programs, title I may provide funds for educational services that
are part of a Head Start program, and Head Start may, in turn, use other
funds to provide nutritional services. Even if the program--as a recipient
of title I funds--increased school readiness, it would be difficult to know
if the effect resulted from the educational services supported by title I
funds, the nutritional services supported by other funds, or a combination
of all the services the program offered. Education has previously
acknowledged that these kinds of difficulties have impeded its efforts to
isolate title I's effect for older children.

With increased attention on the importance of early childhood education,
federal policymakers want to know whether the federal investment in early
childhood education programs is effective in preparing children for school.
Title I funds represent a significant and growing federal investment in
preschool education, but its effect on children's school readiness is not
known. Given previous difficulties in evaluating the effect of title I
funding on older children, questions remain about whether title I's effect
on school readiness can be isolated. However, Education has an opportunity
to evaluate the feasibility of isolating and measuring this effect in
designing its preschool study.

Given the large federal investment in title I and the current attention on
the importance of early childhood education programs, we recommend that the
Secretary of Education determine if it is feasible to isolate and measure
title I's effect as part of Education's planned preschool study. If
feasible, the Secretary should ensure that the final study design is
structured to isolate and measure title I's effect.

In commenting on the report, Education agreed with our recommendation that
it conduct a feasibility study to determine whether title I's effect on
school readiness can be isolated. Education also provided technical
comments, which we incorporated in the report where appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to the Honorable Richard W. Riley,
Secretary of Education, relevant congressional committees, and other
interested parties.

Please contact me on (202) 512-7215 if you or your staff have any questions
about this report. Other GAO contacts and staff acknowledgments are listed
in appendix I.

Sincerely yours,
Marnie S. Shaul
Associate Director, Education, Workforce,
and Income Security Issues

GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments

Diana Pietrowiak, (202) 512-6239
Sherri Doughty, (202) 512-7273

In addition to those named above, Mary Crenshaw, Harriet Ganson, Jay Smale,
and Shannon Lightner made key contributions to this report.

(104988)

Table 1: Major Federal Programs Supporting Preschool Education 8

Figure 1: Growth in the Number of Preschool Children Served
With Title I Funds 6

Figure 2: Estimated Percentage of Title I Funds Used by School
Districts to Support Preschool Education Services 9

Figure 3: Estimated Percentage of School Districts That Received
Title I Funds and Used Them to Serve Preschool Children 10

Figure 4: Estimated Percentage of Title I-Funded Preschool Children Served
by the Largest and Smaller School Districts 11

Figure 5: Comparison of the Race/Ethnicity of Children Served by the Largest
and Smaller School Districts 12

Figure 6: Comparison of the Types of Services Provided by the
Largest and Smaller School Districts 13
  

1. Throughout this report, title I refers only to title I, part A, of ESEA.

2. Early Childhood Programs: Characteristics Affect the Availability of
School Readiness Information (GAO/HEHS-00-38, Feb. 28, 2000) and Evaluations
of Even Start Family Literacy Program Effectiveness (GAO/HEHS-00-58R, Mar.
8, 2000 ).

3. Education and Care: Early Childhood Programs and Services for Low-Income
Families (GAO/HEHS-00-11, Nov. 15, 1999 ).

4. Early Education and Care: Overlap Indicates Need to Assess Crosscutting
Programs (GAO/HEHS-00-78, Apr. 28, 2000 ).

5. At the 95-percent confidence level, the total is $407 million plus or
minus $182 million. The estimate includes the amount schools within the
school districts spent as well.

6. At the 95-percent confidence level, the total is 313,000 plus or minus
86,000 children.

7. Because this and other percentage estimates resulting from our survey are
based on samples, each estimate is subject to sampling error. The sampling
error for this estimate is 4 percentage points. This means that at the
95-percent confidence level, the percentage is between 13 percent and 21
percent. All other percentage estimates resulting from our survey have
sampling errors of 13 percentage points or less.

8. The most recent data available are for school year 1997-98 from
Department of Education 1997-98 State Performance Report.

9. The large concentration of children served in Texas may be because title
I schools in Texas frequently use title I funds to improve the whole school
rather than targeting specific eligible children.
*** End of document. ***