Teachers agree pre-kindergarten programs would help more children succeed

In nearly half the classrooms (46%), at least one out of five kids was inadequately prepared for kindergarten when they started schools. A 2004 poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. was the first national survey in more than a decade to solicit kindergarten teachers’ opinions on the value of pre-kindergarten. Nine out of ten teachers agreed that “substantially more” children would succeed in school if all families had access to quality pre-kindergarten programs. The agreement rate rose to nearly 100% among teachers with mostly poor, minority children in their classes.