PennLive: OpEd: Investing in early childhood education reduces crime and saves taxpayer dollars
June 1, 2019 by Dauphin County Fran Chardo, District Attorney
At-risk children face so many challenges throughout their lives. One of the greatest accomplishments they can attain that dramatically reduces their likelihood of engaging in criminal activity is graduation from high school.
We can help start them on the right path to a high school diploma and give their parents some of the skills that they may not have learned in their own childhood by providing these children with access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs.
This access is not something that we here in Dauphin County or any single county can accomplish alone. Currently, we are only serving one-third of eligible high-risk children in the County. We can and must do more because this investment pays such tremendous dividends.
Quality pre-k programs return an average benefit to society of up to $27,000 for every child served. This is a measure of the benefits in both cutting crime and the cost of incarceration, reducing other costs such as special education and grade retention, and increasing participants’ future wages. Applying that research-based cost savings estimate to the 5,500 additional low-income Pennsylvanian children who would be served by the proposed $50 million funding increase for the Pre-K Counts and Head Start State Supplemental Assistance programs in 2019-2020 state budget, we could realize almost $150 million in societal benefits over their lifetimes.
Quite simply, increasing access to pre-k leads to more kids succeeding in school and saving taxpayer funds for years to come. When these preschoolers arrive in kindergarten and grade school classrooms, their teachers can focus more on teaching and less on classroom management because of fewer behavioral challenges.
Early intervention in the form of a high-quality pre-k program is a vital first step in providing a stable, nurturing environment for children living in adverse circumstances and developing strong parental support. If children lack early positive influences and see parents going to prison as “the way life is” rather than as a life-changing event, it can be easy for them to go down the same road.
I have spent my career serving our citizens through the criminal justice system. But I believe that we cannot arrest or prosecute our way out of the problems we face here in Dauphin County.
We need to use all resources at our disposal to give parents the tools they need to do the best job they can, while also investing in education to set our children up for a bright future to start a career, serve in the military or go college rather than facing the inside of a courtroom or a jail cell.
For these reasons, I believe that public investment in our youngest learners must be a continued budgetary priority. During this graduation season, let us turn our attention to the state budget and increase our investment in pre-k.
Read the oped here.
Pennsylvania Capital Star: Pennsylvania’s kindergarten teachers ask state lawmakers for more pre-K funding
May 29, 2019 by Elizabeth Hardison
The fight to secure more funding for high-quality early education in Pennsylvania has a new ally: the state’s kindergarten teachers.
A survey by the Pennsylvania State Education Association found nearly unanimous support for publicly funded pre-kindergarten education among the union’s members who teach children that age.
The results were released Tuesday by Pre-K for PA, a coalition of educators and education advocates that seeks to expand access to early education programs for Pennsylvania’s preschool-age children.
Members of the campaign appeared at Hamilton Elementary School in Carlisle, Cumberland County on Tuesday to tout the findings of the survey and call for additional funding for early education programs.
Ninety-six percent of the teachers surveyed by PSEA agree that students who attend pre-K are more prepared for kindergarten, they said. In addition, 98 percent said that high-quality, publicly funded pre-K is an important tool for preparing at-risk children for kindergarten.
A report that detailed the results did not disclose the survey’s methods or sample size.
According to a state Department of Education report, more than 115,000 children living in deep poverty did not have access to publicly funded pre-k programs in the 2016-17 school year.
Teachers say that children who arrive in kindergarten without pre-K experience have lower literacy and emotional readiness than their peers who did attend pre-K.
Read the full article here.
Kindergarten Teachers Survey Backs Research Showing Social-Emotional Benefits of High-Quality Pre-K
Report Highlights Unmet Need and Makes Case for Funding Increases for
High-Quality Pre-K in the 2019-20 State Budget
Harrisburg, PA (May 28, 2019)—The Pre-K for PA Campaign today released Ready to Succeed: Kindergarten Teachers Support Investments in High-Quality Pre-k, a report based on findings of a survey conducted with campaign partner the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), seeking the perceptions of kindergarten members about the role that access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-k plays in school readiness.
PSEA Treasurer Jeff Ney says the results show resounding support for high-quality pre-k among those surveyed, with 96 percent of elementary school teachers agreeing that students who attend a high-quality pre-k program are ready for success in kindergarten, and 98 percent agreeing that high-quality, publicly funded pre-k is an important tool for preparing at-risk children for kindergarten.
“Phrasing quality pre-k as ‘an important tool’ was intentional in this survey,” Ney said. “Kindergarten teachers know and understand that a quality pre-k experience provides each child entering kindergarten with a growth mindset and a readiness to succeed. Their personal experiences mirror what researchers have uncovered – that children who attend high-quality pre-k have a solid foundation for learning, which promotes increased student growth and achievement.”
Research shows that access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-k benefits children socially and emotionally, helps cognitive development through physical activity, promotes healthy brain development through positive interactions and helps them develop early literacy skills.
Responses from the kindergarten teachers surveyed support this research. The top three skills kindergarten teachers found to be most important for early learning programs to focus on to ensure incoming students are ready for a successful kindergarten year were physical well-being and motor development, emotional development and social development.
Miranda Clash, a kindergarten teacher at Hamilton Elementary School in the Carlisle Area School District in Cumberland County who took the survey, said, “Students who attend high-quality pre-k programs come into kindergarten ready to succeed. They have already practiced essential learning behaviors, know how to regulate their emotions, interact appropriately with peers, and have a solid foundation of language and background knowledge onto which they can add new learning. For students who have had a high-quality pre-k experience, I don’t have to spend as much time teaching these prerequisites to academic learning.”
Kari King, President and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, a founding member of the Pre-K for PA Campaign, said that while it’s no surprise that kindergarten teachers support programs that help students succeed in their classrooms, their collective voice is important.
“Almost immediately, kindergarten teachers can determine the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in their classrooms – or those children who have had access to high-quality pre-k and those who have not,” she said. “Investments in high-quality pre-k have a significant return on investment for our children, schools and communities. However, the state is not investing enough to ensure access for the children who need it the most.”
More than 97,000 – or 56 percent – of eligible 3- and 4-year-olds do not have access. The Pre-K for PA Campaign is calling for a $50 million increase in the 2019-20 state budget; $40 million for Pre-K Counts and $10 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (HSSAP). This investment will provide access to an additional 5,500 children.
The report notes that the Commonwealth still ranks 18th of the 30 states investing in high-quality pre-k, and aggressive steps must be taken to put Pennsylvania children on a level playing field with their peers in those states.
Ready to Succeed: Kindergarten Teachers Support Investments in High-Quality Pre-k is available at http://www.prekforpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PPC-Pre-K-Report-Online.pdf.
Pre-K for PA is an issue campaign supported by individuals and organizations across Pennsylvania who believe that investing in our children is the right choice and an urgent necessity. Our vision is that every 3- and 4-year-old in Pennsylvania will have access to high-quality pre-k. We will not endorse nor oppose candidates, but rather we will advocate on behalf of this vision for Pennsylvania’s children, schools and communities. For more information www.prekforpa.org.
###
Carlisle Sentinel: Advocates make case for pre-K importance in Carlisle
May 28, 2019
Education advocates were at Hamilton Elementary School in Carlisle Tuesday morning to push for more access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs.
The Pre-K for PA Campaign released a report, “Ready for Success: Kindergarten Teachers Support Investments in High-Quality Pre-K,” which was based on findings of a survey conducted by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.
Association treasurer Jeff Ney said the results of the report show that 96 percent of elementary school teachers agree that students who attend high-quality pre-K programs are “ready for success” in kindergarten, and that 98 percent agree that such programs are an important tool to help prepare at-risk children.
“Phrasing quality pre-K as ‘an important tool’ was intentional in this survey,” Ney said. “Kindergarten teachers know and understand that a quality pre-K experience provides each child entering kindergarten with a growth mindset and a readiness to succeed. Their personal experiences mirror what researchers have uncovered: that children who attend high-quality pre-K have a solid foundation for learning, which promotes increased student growth and achievement.”
The report also included responses from kindergarten teachers who were surveyed. They said the top three skills learned in early learning programs that were the most important for incoming students were physical well-being and motor development, emotional development and social development.
“Students who attend high-quality pre-K programs come into kindergarten ready to succeed,” said Miranda Clash, a kindergarten teacher at Hamilton. “They have already practiced essential learning behaviors, know how to regulate their emotions, interact appropriately with peers, and have a solid foundation of language and background knowledge onto which they can add new learning. For students who have had a high-quality pre-K experience, I don’t have to spend as much time teaching these prerequisites to academic learning.”
Read the full article here.
Public News Service: Survey Shows Broad Teacher Support for Pre-K
May 28, 2019 by Andrea Sears
More than 90% of Pennsylvania kindergarten teachers agree that high quality pre-k prepares children for school success, according to a new report.
The Pre-K for PA campaign and the Pennsylvania State Education Association surveyed kindergarten teachers about the value that access to publicly funded, high quality pre-k has in promoting school readiness.
Kari King is president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, one of the founding organizations of Pre-K for PA. She says 96% of teachers surveyed agree that high quality pre-k is an important tool for helping children develop the physical, emotional and social skills that are needed to succeed in the classroom.
“And 98% said that they see investing in high quality pre-k makes sense for the return on investment that you’re seeing throughout the child’s life,” King states.
Since 2014 the state has invested $115 million to give 12,000 additional at-risk children access to pre-k, but more than half of eligible children are still left out.
With the state budget for the coming fiscal year due at the end of June, King is hoping legislators will agree to invest an additional $40 million in the state’s Pre-k Counts program, and $10 million in the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program.
“With that we’ll be able to provide access to about 5,500 additional three and four-year-olds who are eligible and continue to chip away at about 56 percent of eligible preschoolers who currently don’t have access,” King states.
King points out that Pennsylvania still ranks 18th out of the 30 states that do invest in high quality pre-k.
King says it’s an investment that pays. Research shows that a child who attended a high quality pre-k program sees benefits that can last a lifetime.
“That child is less likely to need remediation, and even into adulthood where you see that they’re more likely to have successful outcomes in terms of not entering the criminal justice system and gaining employment,” she states
King notes that every dollar invested in high-quality pre-k returns $4 in savings and benefits to the Commonwealth from reduced crime, higher earnings and more.
Read the article here.
