Press release from state Rep. Bill Dunn - Last week, researchers at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University released
findings of their 2013 pre-kindergarten study – a research effort
dedicated to detailing the effects of pre-kindergarten on the long-term
academic success of Tennessee students.
The findings show that by the end of kindergarten “the differences
between participants and non-participants were no longer statistically
significant”, except in one case where the children who did not attend
Pre-K actually outperformed those who did.
“Tennesseans were told that Pre-K would increase graduation rates
and even prevent 80 murders and 6,400 aggravated assaults each year,”
said State Representative Bill Dunn (R–Knoxville), citing Pre-K advocate
literature. “I truly hope people will recognize this was all very
expensive hype.”
According to estimates, the total cost of implementing a full-scale
Pre-K program in Tennessee would exceed $460 million per year.
“If you do a cost-benefit analysis on this extremely expensive
program, you will come to the conclusion that it is like paying $1,000
for a McDonald’s hamburger,” Dunn continued. “It may make an initial
dent on your hunger, but it doesn’t last long and you soon realize you
could have done a lot more with the money spent.”
Instead, Dunn called for shifting resources to places that have shown
to have a real impact on students, like having a great teacher in front
of every classroom.
“Our teachers have stepped up with the new educational reforms that
have been initiated and have shown improvement on annual test scores for
three years in a row. For all of this hard work, I think they should be
rewarded,” concluded Dunn.
Bill Dunn of Knoxville represents District 16.
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