Pre-K in a Dallas public school wasn’t on Arielle Derman’s mind when her oldest son was 3 years old. She sent him to a private program, paying about $1,100 a month for four hours of care each day.
One group with the teacher doing directed fast-paced instruction on letters, sounds and combining them to read syllables, then words (for the Spanish readers) or cvc words (like “dad” or “pal,” for ...