The Southern Education Foundation (SEF) will release its report on "Pre-kindergarten in the South" at a news conference on Thursday, May 10. 

The report examines Pre-K trends and developments across the U.S. regions and within 15 Southern states. It finds that, despite lagging the nation in most areas of education, the South is leading the nation in this very important area of public education and that Pre-K has become the region's most important comparative advantage in closing the gap with the nation in education and income.

In addition, the report pulls together and synthesizes the findings of every major independent study of state-supported Pre-K across the South in the last ten years. These reports measure the current and future impact that Pre-K can have in improving Southern education and the region's quality of life.