New Pittsburgh Courier: County, Regional Officials Celebrate New Pre-k Classrooms in Homewood
By Stephan Broadus 9/20/2016
Pittsburgh, Pa. – Local and state officials helped mark the expansion of a pre-kindergarten classroom at YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh’s Homewood-Brushton Child Development and Education Center on Sept. 19.
The expansion of high-quality pre-k was made possible by the infusion of an additional $25 million in funding for Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts and $5 million for the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program as part of the 2016-17 state budget. Early learning providers in Allegheny County received new state funding to serve more than 400 additional children in the current school year. Pre-K Counts and the Head Start State Supplemental are the primary state funding sources for high-quality pre-k in Pennsylvania.
Cara Ciminillo, executive director of the Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children, said the region’s new pre-k classrooms are a step in the right direction, but noted access to high-quality pre-k in Allegheny County remains a challenge. “Only 42 percent of income eligible 3- and 4-year-olds have access to publicly-funded high-quality pre-k in the county. This equates to more than 7,300 income eligible three- and four-year-olds still lacking access to publicly-funded high-quality pre-k every year,” Ciminillo said.
Statewide, more than 120,000 3- and 4-year-olds—or 69 percent of all eligible young learners—are missing out on publicly-funded, high-quality pre-k each year. This lack of access is especially troubling considering the proven benefits it has for children, schools and communities. A large body of research shows children who benefit from high-quality pre-k:
Enter kindergarten with stronger literacy, language, math and social/emotional skills;
Are less likely to need special education services, less likely to repeat grades, and more likely to graduate and enroll in college.
Over a lifetime, these young learners will see stronger employment opportunities and increased earning potential, and they are less likely to commit juvenile and adult crimes.
Allegheny County Sheriff William Mullen stressed the role high-quality pre-k plays in reducing disruptive or anti-social behaviors that, if unaddressed, can lead to delinquent and criminal behavior. Mullen noted research compiled by the anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest In Kids showing that at-risk kids who attend high-quality early learning programs are dramatically less likely to commit crime and more likely to graduate from high school.
“A review of Pennsylvania’s state inmate population reveals that more than 50 percent of inmates have not graduated from high school,” said Mullen. “This revealing statistic is more reason for the imperative that law enforcement leaders place on educational success, which is best achieved by children getting a strong early educational foundation.”
Sheriff Mullen added: “Independent cost-benefit analyses show that high-quality pre-k can return, on average, net benefits to society of nearly $30,000 for every child served. These benefits accrue largely due to reductions in the cost of future crime and increases in participants’ future wages, as well as other costs such as children being held back in school or receiving special education services.”
Read the full article here.
WBRE: Invest in Kids!
By Jayne Ann Bugda
September 9, 2016
SELINSGROVE, SNYDER COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) With the state budget passed this year – state funded pre-kindergarten classrooms are expanding.
On Friday, a ribbon cutting was held at the ‘Susquehanna Children’s Center’ in Selinsgrove.
Through a program called ‘Fight Crime: Invest in Kids’ — 25-million dollars in state funding will help enroll 3 and 4-year-olds into a pre-k class.
The goal is to lower crime in the future.
Watch video of the event here.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Op-ed: The Academic Medal Count
High-quality pre-k should be available to all children in Pennsylvania
September 9, 2016
As the Rio Olympics fades into memory, let’s take a last look back and consider how America’s elite athletes once again won the medal count, extending our country’s all-time lead to more than 2,500 Olympic medals.
This victory was not solely theirs; Olympic athletes take the field backed by parents, coaches and our entire nation cheering them on. Years of training pay off when they climb the podium to claim their medals.
But increasingly, we athletes worry that the United States is winning the Olympic medal count but losing the academic medal count. In Rio, America’s 121 medals vastly outpaced second-place China. However, our children’s 2012 international academic scores ranked 35th in math and 27th in science.
Imagine all the squandered talent behind those academic markers. In athletic terms, it’s as if Kyle Snyder had never taken to the mat, or Simone Biles had never chalked her hands for the balance beam.
Champions for America’s Future, a nationwide network of top athletes and coaches helping kids succeed in life, believes it’s time for America to take the academic podium. Elite athletes start training young. Quality early-childhood education gives our children the same edge, making sure they reach the starting line known as kindergarten with the pre-math, pre-reading and social/emotional skills needed to reach their full potential.
We’ve all heard about the “achievement gap” of lower-income high school students whose academic scores trail their higher-income peers. It’s not as if those students were on par and then ran out of gas, like a leading runner suddenly faltering near the finish line. At least 60 percent of the achievement gap in reading and math is already present at kindergarten. Often, disadvantaged children start kindergarten knowing only one-fourth the words known by the children of professional parents.
For these kids, the race may be over before it starts. As champion Olympics and NCAA basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski puts it, “These children might be scrambling to catch up for the rest of their education – and possibly for the rest of their lives.”
It doesn’t have to be that way. We’ve seen high-quality pre-kindergarten turn disadvantaged children into champions:
• By the fourth and fifth grades, disadvantaged New Jersey children served by a preschool program were three-fourths of a year ahead in math and two-thirds of a year ahead in literacy. They were also much less likely to be held back in school.
• In North Carolina, the More at Four program improved third-grade reading and math scores by the equivalent of several months of extra instruction. It also led to 10 percent fewer special-education placements.
• By age 20, students from Chicago Child-Parent Centers preschool improved their graduation rates by 29 percent. Sadly, children not served by the program were 70 percent more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by age 18.
Unfortunately, here in Pennsylvania access to quality pre-kindergarten is limited. Among the 170,000 Pennsylvania 3- and 4-year-olds living in lower-income households, and therefore at greatest risk of academic failure, nearly 70 percent lack access to quality publicly funded early-childhood programs each year. This represents missed opportunities for 120,000 young children annually.
The years of training that result in an Olympic victory come with a cost, and so does greater access to high quality pre-kindergarten. When it comes to quality early learning, however, the investment actually saves money. A respected cost-benefit analysis of more than 20 different studies showed net benefits to society of $30,000 saved for each child served in pre-kindergarten.
Athletes know that every medal we earn represents a team effort, even when we enter the mat, pool, court or track all alone. Our youngest children deserve the same team effort guiding them toward success on and off the field.
For our children to be successful, our government leaders must write a game plan that expands quality pre-K to these 120,000 young children to help them achieve their potential. Then we can lead our commonwealth and nation to the top of the world’s academic podium.
Bruce Baumgartner, a four-time Olympic wrestling medalist, is director of athletics at Edinboro University and president of USA Wrestling.
Read the full op-ed here.
Centre Daily Times: Op-ed: Helping students find success starts at a young age
By Charlene Friedman
September 2, 2016
As we celebrate Labor Day weekend and honor the workforce this year, many hardworking Americans are giving thanks for having jobs in today’s sometimes-volatile economy. Indeed, too many are still struggling to find positions in a world where workforce needs have been shifting and where 52 percent of employers have difficulty hiring people with the skills, training or education they’re looking for.
In fact, according to a new report from ReadyNation, more than 170,000 positions in Pennsylvania will not be filled with in-state employees possessing the educational credentials their employers seek. Businesses spend about $188.9 million each year on retraining employees, and about 56 percent of employers expect the recruiting problem to worsen.
Sadly, these figures make sense since 28 percent of students entering the State System of Higher Education have to enroll in remedial courses, costing about $153 million every year. Looking back further, research shows that two-thirds of eighth-graders are not proficient in math and science — two disciplines in which proficiency has become more critical for thriving in today’s STEM-driven economy.
STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) occupations in sectors like health care and computer science have been growing by as much as 20 to 37 percent nationwide. Moreover, STEM jobs are typically higher paying than those in other fields, often commanding salaries more than double the median salary for all workers even though many of these positions do not require four-year college degrees.
So how do we prepare more children to succeed in these fields? Research data shows that children’s knowledge of mathematics at preschool age (3 and 4 years old) predicts their later success into elementary, middle and even high school.
Ninety percent of the human brain is developed before age 5, and the first three to five years of life are a unique period of growth for a child’s brain. Young children can learn more STEM content than many realize. A quality early learning curriculum that capitalizes on the natural curiosity and exploration of young children quickly develops into an understanding of math and science concepts.
Children can (and should) experience this content through enjoyable, play-based activities appropriate for their age. Programs like Pre-K Counts, Head Start, and Keystone STARS-3 and -4 are based on the Pennsylvania learning standards for early childhood prekindergarten and include topics and content that help lay this foundation for STEM abilities.
Pennsylvania has a long tradition of investing in high-quality early childhood education, but it’s not enough. While Pennsylvania’s recently enacted state budget for 2016-17 will allow 6,200 additional children to enroll for a full year, about 70 percent of the state’s income-eligible 3- and 4-year olds do not have access because of inadequate funding. That’s 120,000 young children each year who might lack learning experiences in math and science fundamentals.
Workers and business owners all benefit when our economy is operating on all cylinders. Leaving so many young children without access to high-quality publicly funded pre-K jeopardizes their individual futures and our collective prosperity. It is my hope that by next Labor Day our state policymakers will have acted boldly to serve more of these 120,000 young children.
Charlene Friedman is the broker of record for Industrial-Commercial Realty LLC, State College Downtown Properties and serves on ReadyNation and Pennsylvania’s Early Learning Investment Commission.
Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/opinion/article99638062.html#storylink=cpy
The Sentinel: Book: Early STEM funding key to state’s workforce
August 26, 2016
As we approach Labor Day, it is right to acknowledge the vital role that a skilled workforce plays in economic prosperity. However, the exact nature of those skills are changing.
Increasingly, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills demand attention because they are driving the economy. These jobs are high-paying, and they’re expected to grow by 20 percent to 37 percent in coming years. However, despite their desirability, STEM capabilities are lacking in the workforce. More than half of Pennsylvania employers report trouble finding people with adequate skills, training, or education, especially in technical and skilled job openings.
Now, researchers have opened a new window into our understanding of how those rudimentary math skills impact a lifetime of learning. The roots of STEM skills, we’re learning, are planted in early childhood. The capabilities in science, technology, engineering, and math that employers demand actually start forming when that small child is counting to 10.
Many admirable efforts to build STEM skills among students concentrate on middle and high school, but it’s time to turn our attention to the youngest learners. STEM skills truly do take root in the preschool years, as these findings show:
When disadvantaged children enter kindergarten, they can be 18 months behind their peers in math achievement. Early childhood education can help to close the gap, because those first three to five years of life are the time when children’s brains build synapses, the neural connections that support learning and skill development, at the rate of 700 per second.
Children are naturally curious, and strong early learning curricula capitalize on that. High-quality early childhood education directs children to play-based activities purposefully designed to build understanding of real math and science concepts.
Early math skills can predict later school success, even in reading. But if math problems persist at ages 6, 8, and 10, children are less likely to graduate from high school or attend college.
Proper brain development in young children also lays the groundwork for desirable workplace traits, including focus, perseverance, and teamwork.
Pennsylvania has a long tradition of investing in high-quality early childhood education, but it’s not enough. While Pennsylvania’s recently enacted state budget for 2016-17 will allow 6,200 additional children to enroll for a full year, about 70 percent of PA’s income-eligible three- and four-year olds do not have access because of inadequate funding. That’s 120,000 young children each year who might lack learning experiences in math and science fundamentals.
In order for our future workers to continue making significant achievements to our economic prosperity, we must invest in them as children by increasing access to quality early childhood education programs. It is my hope that, by next Labor Day, we will be celebrating a continued robust investment in these programs, pointing more children toward futures as participating citizens in the vitality of our local communities.
Read the full op-ed here.
