Delaware early childhood education lags neighbors

The National Institute for Early Education Research just put out their annual ranking of state early childhood programs. See the full report here, some Delaware highlights below, and the full Delaware summary here.

• Delaware ranks 30th of all states in terms of the percentage (7.3%) of 4-year-olds served by state pre-school (ECAP). Our neighboring states—Pennsylvania (28), New Jersey (15), and Maryland (9)–all rank above us.
• Delaware serves no 3-year-olds through state preschool. (26 states serve 3-year olds.)
• Delaware’s programs operate at least 3.5 hours, 5 days per week. 10 states offer full day programs, and 30 states allow local programs to determine the schedule.
• Delaware ranks 7th in terms of resources invested per child ($6795).  However, in adjusted dollars, this was $348 less than the previous year.