The State of Preschool: 2003 State Preschool Yearbook

Developed by the National Institute for Early Education, The State Preschool Yearbook provides information on one important contributor to change in the education of young children--state-funded prekindergarten programs.

This 2003 Yearbook is the first in an annual series reporting on programs funded by state governments to educate children at ages 3 and 4.  It describes state-funded prekindergarten programs in the 2001–2002 school year and establishes a baseline against which to compare future progress. The data was collected from an intensive survey of the states. Information is presented on three key characteristics of prekindergarten programs: access, quality standards, and resources. 

This Yearbook is organized into three major sections. The first section provides background information on preschool education in the United States, a description of the data collection and analytical methods, a national summary of our findings, and national policy recommendations. The second section presents detailed reports identifying each state's policies with respect to preschool access, quality standards and resources. Finally, the last section contains the appendices, including tables that report all of the survey data obtained from every state, as well as Head Start and child care data.