SPARK

For preschool education, the pluses of the pandemic are hard to find. Enrollment dropped, some schools closed for good, and measures of kindergarten preparedness tailed off. But Ohio fared better than some states and took steps that could make it easier not only to recover but to move ahead.

Fewer than one in three kids in poor families in Ohio start kindergarten with the skills they need – things like counting, rhyming and sounding letters…