Anchorage School District says preschool attendees outperform peers; district faces long wait list

Anchorage School District officials told the House Finance education subcommittee on Feb. 25 that students who attended ASD preschool outperform peers on early-literacy benchmarks and that demand exceeds available seats.

Jessica Neseth Recker, introduced by the chair as the district’s director of early learning, showed ASD comparisons for students who attended ASD preschool versus those who did not and said the district’s Title I, economically disadvantaged and ELL students who attended ASD preschool performed better on early kindergarten benchmarks. "On our first benchmark going into kindergarten... we are by far outperforming those Title I peers who did not receive ASD preschool," Neseth said.

Neseth said ASD operates 41 preschool sites and reported 1,200 applicants for this year; 635 students have been placed and roughly 480 remain on a wait list because the district lacks funding and classroom capacity. She told the committee ASD currently receives 0.5 ADM funding that funds about 10 classrooms, with the remaining classrooms supported by grants and other resources. Neseth described pilot work using community partners and ACE fund support to combine half-day state-funded preschool with community childcare to offer full-day options for working families.

Committee members asked about staffing ratios, toileting/supervision needs, special-education transportation and program logistics; Neseth said typical preschool ratios are about 1:10 (a certified teacher plus classified support) and noted higher consumable and facility costs relative to general K–3 classrooms. She also said ASD is working with Teaching Strategies and other vendors to improve assessment alignment from preschool to kindergarten.

Next steps: ASD will continue pilots to expand full-day options and the department and ASD agreed to follow up with disaggregated outcomes for future briefings.