Yay! @Prek4PA is Overall Winner in @PhillyDoGooder Awards. Watch the video: http://t.co/uKIpt8mPGG. Then join us: http://t.co/bO338nabmX. — Pre-K for PA (@PreK4PA) March 13, 2014
By Adrienne Lu, Staff Writer
Preschool students play at Seattle’s Refugee and Immigrant Family Center. Seattle is among a number of cities and states across the country working on expanding publicly funded preschool. (AP)
From Seattle to New York, elected officials are calling for more children to attend publicly funded preschool.
President Barack Obama, lawmakers and local officials from both sides of the aisle agree on the benefits of prekindergarten — the catch is how to pay for it. That is especially true of the “high-quality” programs critical to achieving the long-term benefits touted by advocates, such as lower school dropout rates, reduced costs to the criminal justice system and higher wages.
Although definitions of “high quality” differ, such programs typically feature well-qualified teachers, developmentally appropriate instruction and positive relationships between teachers and children.
Some critics argue the benefits of preschool are overstated or fade over time, or that the programs are too expensive to justify the expense. But many lawmakers find the research showing that investing in early childhood education can yield large dividends compelling.
BY CAROL PHILLIPS and SUSAN ECKERT Special to the Sunday News
There is no better investment opportunity than early childhood learning. While Lancaster County has a strong public school system, too many of our youngest children aren’t prepared for success in school, and consequently won’t be prepared for success in life. The problem is most troubling for young children in low-income families, where a slow start often translates into poor academic performance and lack of motivation throughout their entire school experience.
Consider the facts. Did you know?
• Nearly two-thirds of American children living in poverty have no books in their homes.
• A child from a high-income family will experience 30 million more words within the first four years of life than a child from a low-income family.
• Children who do not read at their grade-level by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of school.
These facts are really important to know because a child’s brain is 90 percent developed before age 5.
So often, Lancaster County’s fiscal health and prosperity have masked the bleak situation that a number of our young children experience during their first five years of life. Currently, there are some 35,500 children from birth to age five living among us. Sixty-two percent of them live in economically at-risk families. Thirty percent are born to mothers with less than a high school education; 5.7% percent are born to single mothers under the age of 20. These facts point to the reality that 26% of our children currently are entering kindergarten assessed as being unprepared to succeed in school.
Fortunately, a team of community leaders in its second annual review of “prosperity indicators” for Lancaster County has identified school readiness as the primary indicator on which our efforts should be focused. Thirty-five indicators are being monitored annually by the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce & Industry in partnership with the Lancaster County, the Lancaster County Community Foundation, and the United Way of Lancaster County. Of these, preparing our kids for school success has been selected by a local collaboration of funders as the indicator that demonstrates the greatest promise for assuring the future prosperity of our county, in part because it is a driver of so many of the other indicators.
Additionally, a spring campaign will be unveiled by the United Way to focus our community on the issue of school readiness. While we have many good early care and education programs and providers, we need to broaden our efforts to include all of our children, particularly our most vulnerable, because they are at the greatest risk of failure and school dropout. Evidence indicates that our at-risk children who receive quality early education are able to catch up to their peers in cognitive and social skill development. They are prepared to succeed in school and to become productive fellow citizens in our community.
Investing in school readiness isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s the smart thing to do. Every dollar spent to improve early education saves at least $7 in special education costs, public assistance support, corrections expenses and lost taxes. That’s the return on investment Lancaster County taxpayers are looking for. And even more important, investing in early childhood learning will improve opportunities for disadvantaged students, and help prepare them for happy, productive lives.
Carol Phillips is vice chair of the Hourglass Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank based in Lancaster County. Susan Eckert, principal of the Eckert Group, is a member of the Hourglass board of directors.
By Letters to the Editor on March 06, 2014
Donald Gilliland’s recent PennLive article (“Rising prison costs spell trouble for Corbett’s signature reform”) details the multiple factors that led to a small state prison population increase last year, instead of the projected decrease. As a law enforcement official, I am tough on crime and believe that prison is necessary to help ensure public safety; however, the considerable challenges cited in the article should remind us of why it is so critical to keep people from ever becoming criminals in the first place.
Compelling long-term scientific research and common sense clearly indicate that investing in high-quality pre-kindergarten programs is a key strategy to help ensure that at-risk children get a good start in life thereby cutting the cycle of crime and incarceration.
Nearly 50 percent of Pennsylvania’s prison population failed to receive a high school diploma. High school dropouts are three and a half times more likely than graduates to be arrested and eight times more likely to be incarcerated.
Long-term studies are clear that pre-kindergarten programs are one of the most effective investments to boost graduation rates. The Chicago Child-Parent Center pre-K program and the High Scope Perry Preschool program increased graduation rates by 29 and 44 percent respectively compared to similar children who were not enrolled.
As a member of the statewide law enforcement leader organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, I commend Gov. Corbett for proposing a $10 million increase in the state Pre-K Counts program in next year’s state budget. To help put Pennsylvania on a path to having less state prison inmates, we need to build on this proposal to ensure access to high-quality pre-k for the tens of thousands of 3- and 4-year-olds across the state who are left out every year.
STEPHEN L. MARGESON, Chief, Carlisle Police Department, Carlisle
OVER THE past several years families across Pennsylvania have had to struggle in the face of drastic education cuts; and despite Gov. Corbett’s recent attempts to make up for them, the negative side effects and harm that they have brought upon our students’ education remains.
In the coming months, as Harrisburg moves to debate the budget, we should truly consider how we can transform our state for the better and establish a legacy that will last for decades. Pennsylvania is at a crucial time. Like hot steel it is ready to be molded, and we must strike.
The best way to do this is by fostering and investing in a widely available but often overlooked resource: our young children.
With this in mind, I will introduce legislation that creates universal pre-K programs and mandatory kindergarten in Pennsylvania.
Our education system is the bedrock of our society. It is integral to the health and success of our neighborhoods and our state. A well educated workforce leads to better economic performance, a reduction of crime and even better health.
These are only a few examples of the infinite ripple effect education has on us all.
The U.S. Census Bureau has projected that in 2025 there will be over 22,000 Pennsylvania children under the age of 5. That is 22,000 children we can set on a path to academic excellence; children who will be prepared to lead and contribute to our economy from the onset of their development.
We cannot ignore the indisputable evidence that supports the implementation of universal pre-K and the good brought about by kindergarten programs.
Children who participate in high-quality early-childhood education have a higher performance in reading, speaking and language development – and social skills.
What’s more, children from low-income areas who are enrolled in such programs are 40 percent less likely to be held back or need special education, 30 percent more likely to complete high school and twice as likely to attend college.
Over the course of a year, attendance in kindergarten strengthens a child’s social development, and, on average, improves student’s reading scores by ten points and their math scores by eight points.
These benefits are prolonged, leading to higher pay and a better lifestyle. They are the factors that contribute to lower crime rates and better living standards. By establishing universal pre-K in Pennsylvania we are allowing people to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps.
Once we have created a sturdy foundation for our young children we must continue our pursuit of excellence. It is hard to imagine the absence of kindergarten in our children’s education and development, and yet there are states that do not require it. What is even harder to believe is that Pennsylvania is among them.
We have the ability to be transformative and the path to creating a better tomorrow is clear; we need only to act.
By pursuing funding mechanisms, such as the Marcellus Shale extraction tax, we can make this reasonable and commonsense legislation a reality.
As a new father, when I look at my daughter, I see all the promise in the world, and like any parent I wonder what she will make of herself.
Prior to her birth I had advocated for a sound and well-established education system, but I can say now that when I look at her I know we must move forward. We cannot afford to do otherwise.
If we wish to have a Pennsylvania, and an America, that is built to compete in the ever-changing global economy we must be prepared to invest in the children who will build tomorrow.
We must not allow ourselves to fall behind only to look back and say, “If only.”
Brendan F. Boyle represents the 170th Legislative District in Northeast Philadelphia and Montgomery County. He was elected in 2008 and is currently serving his third term in office.
