A recent survey found that there are about 15,000 young Philadelphians lacking a high school diploma who are not currently enrolled in school or employed.
Full story & Interview with Pre-K for PA field organizer Della Jenkins at the source.
The Grable Foundation has partnered with The Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children (PAEYC) to design a series of learning tours to foster innovative early childhood education, strategies and policies.
Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak will represent Pittsburgh City Council on the first of these learning tours to New York City Monday and Tuesday, July 14-15, to learn about New York City’s universal Pre-K program.
Councilwoman Rudiak has advocated for a “Pittsburgh Promise for preschoolers,” in which every pre-school age child living in the City of Pittsburgh would have access to a free, high-quality preschool education. She has also been an early champion of the Pre-K for PA Campaign (http://www.prekforpa.org), a project of the The Pittsburgh Association for the Education of Young Children (PAEYC).
Read the full story here.
A recent commentary on the economic benefits of early learning (“For region’s sake, let’s rally to deliver top-notch early childhood education,” June 26) gave The Times Leader’s readers an excellent overview of how high-quality early childhood education programs save money for taxpayers while helping to build a better educated, more competitive workforce in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Over the course of my career in early learning, I have seen firsthand how quality programs such as Head Start prepare children for success in school and life – particularly among children who are at higher risk of academic failure due to poverty or other circumstances that are beyond their control. When we nurture these young minds at such a critical period in their development, we prepare them to persevere and succeed despite the obstacles they might face.
The bottom line for business is that early learning opportunities for our children have tremendous long-term benefits for our workforce.
Beyond business, high-quality pre-k helps virtually every aspect of our communities and our quality of life. Let’s track some of those benefits through the life of a child:
■ By better preparing children for kindergarten, high-quality pre-k has been shown to save money in our K-12 schools by reducing the need for special education and remedial instruction.
■ By better preparing young learners for K-12 (particularly kids at high-risk of academic failure) pre-k has been shown to decrease dropouts and increase the rates of graduation and college enrollment.
Norman Rich’s recent oped, “Quality early learning instills STEM skills and core character traits,” CDT, June 23), does a terrific job in identifying the impact that high-quality early learning can have on young learners and the future workforce.
Considering that approximately 70 percent of our nation’s state prison population failed to receive a high school diploma, education is a pivotal factor between incarceration and productive citizenship.
Knowing this connection from research and experience, law enforcement leaders have long supported investments in high quality pre-kindergarten as a key crime prevention strategy.