Most district leaders believe pre-K is vital to prepare students for kindergarten, their social and emotional development, and future grades. But only about a third rank pre-K as a top district priority, according to results from a nationwide survey of superintendents held in the fall of 2024.
School board alignment is even lower: Only 25% of superintendents agreed that pre-K is a priority for their school boards, and just 52% said their district has an intentional focus on creating a pre-K-to-3rd grade continuum of early education.
The results come from a nationally representative survey of over 400 superintendents on their beliefs about the benefits of pre-K, and how much their districts prioritize early learning. These findings highlight the crucial role superintendents can play as policymakers across the country are taking steps to integrate pre-K into the K-12 system and expand access.
Existing literature has focused on “small-scale case studies and interviews,” said Michael Little, a co-author of the survey study and an associate professor of educational evaluation and policy analysis at North Carolina State University. “This is the first survey that really shows that these types of orientations and views are widespread across superintendents across the United States.”
Little and co-author Timothy Drake, an associate professor of education leadership and policy at NC State, also found that while only 6% of superintendents have taught pre-K, about half reported leading a school with a pre-K program at some point in their career.
Superintendents with training in the basic tenets of early childhood learning reported valuing pre-K more than peers without it.
“The overarching finding is that some exposure to early childhood education, whether that be through professional learning experiences or teaching itself, seems to be really impactful and transformative for how folks think about early childhood,” said Drake. The duo found similar trends when surveying principals’ beliefs about the importance of pre-K.
As pre-K becomes more embedded in the public school structure—60% of all public elementary schools have at least one pre-K classroom—superintendents will play a central role in connecting early learning with higher grades. To achieve this, superintendents need training and support, said the researchers.
EdWeek spoke to Little and Drake about their survey results and their implication for school districts. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Most superintendents acknowledge that pre-K is important. What are the barriers between their intentions and actions?
Little: The conceptual support for pre-K is very high. But then when you get down to the specifics, superintendents revealed one of the biggest areas where they need support is with the convoluted mixed delivery system that we have in the United States—how all of these different funding mechanisms are pieced together to support pre-K, whether that be IDEA funds, Title I, or Head Start. They all come with different licensing and regulations, and that really stood out in the survey as something that was a challenge for superintendents.
We notice that most districts have someone that’s responsible for pre-K, but it’s rare that is that person’s only responsibility. District leaders are clearly being pulled in many different directions. Thinking about how to most effectively staff and lead pre-K programs within districts is important.
How do superintendents view the purpose of pre-K?
Little: I think they view kindergarten readiness as [pre-K’s] core goal, and academics are up there. But they also cited social and emotional development as the second most important outcome. Support systems—to help these leaders understand what developmentally based, play-based pedagogy looks like—are important.
You often hear about accountability, like the testing that starts in 3rd grade. Leaders want to backtrack that to kindergarten, and what they need to do to get everyone there by 3rd grade. Leaders can think about what the ideal should look like in pre-K and kindergarten and then move forward from there.
How can superintendents support elementary school principals in leading pre-K?
Drake: Principals matter the most. But pre-K may fall off their radar unless they have a district leader who supports it. The superintendent can organize their office to ensure that they have that individual, like a pre-K coordinator, in place, knowing that it can’t be the superintendent themselves who’s directly helping.
It’s also the extent to which superintendents think strategically and prioritize the person in that [pre-K coordinator] role. On the weaker side, you can just hire a person who’s responsible for managing the pre-K program who only visits the classroom.
But as a superintendent, you could give that person a bigger scope of responsibility, where that pre-K coordinator also meets with the principals. They help to create routines and structures that get the principal, and maybe some of the early elementary teachers, all working together to coordinate instruction in vertical ways. This support person helps to build a strong pre-K to 3rd grade culture within the district and not just be a logistical and oversight person.
What is the role of a pre-K coordinator currently?
Little: Our data do not speak to that in this study, but we have done a lot of interviews [related to other studies] to understand how this works in districts, primarily in North Carolina. And unfortunately, it tends to be more of that direct oversight type of role where the pre-K coordinator comes to the building but don’t interact with the principal at all. Districts should think through how to revise roles for pre-K oversight that are more holistic and have a more comprehensive approach.
Superintendents could create the organizational conditions that help. Reforming the scope of the pre-K coordinator and supporting principals to procure professional learning opportunities.
Even though that content knowledge on pre-K wouldn’t be coming through the superintendent, as a leader they can prioritize principals developing those skills.
Drake: Superintendents are all about a vision, so there’s a way to design both a vision and design their office in a way that supports that vision. If you make pre-K a part of your strategic plan, you can oversee what it looks like for those experts who work with elementary school principals on a day-to-day basis in your district.
What is the main takeaway for superintendents?
Little: Whoever the person is in your district that is responsible for pre-K, talk to them, elevate their position, think through how they can have a more broad, comprehensive support strategy for creating a pre-K-3 culture in the district. Try to gain exposure to what high-quality play-based pedagogy looks like and champion it.
Drake: A little bit of training ... can go a long way. You can lean on those people who are experts to get up to speed. High-quality pre-K matters not just for the academic outcomes we obviously care about, but for later life outcomes, too. There’s something unique about this time in kids’ lives, and superintendents are in a unique position to influence it.
