Delaware County Daily Times: Advocates Continue Call for More Pre-k State Funding
September 26, 2017 by Kevin Tustin
Even with expansion of state funds over the years, access to pre-kindergarten education is still a priority for local and state advocates.
Representatives from the Pennsylvania Principals Association, the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children and local education agencies made their voices heard at Evans Elementary School in Yeadon Monday morning, calling on the state to do more to provide high quality Pre-K opportunities for families.
“We live in a state and in a society that doesn’t make a decision, doesn’t prioritize equalizing opportunity for every child,” said Joan Benso, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. “That starts pretty early in life with Pre-K and, regrettably, it continues through their K-to-12 experiences.
“Now is the time for the commonwealth to invest more, to ensure more children have access to high quality Pre-K.”
A new report from the Pennsylvania Principals Association says 99 percent of surveyed elementary school principals throughout the commonwealth agree that publicly-funded, high-quality Pre-K is an important tool for preparing at-risk children for kindergarten. Such an early education program is reported to have very high outcomes of age-appropriate behavior, reading readiness and ability to demonstrate early mathematical concepts. A decline in remediation and individualized education program services following a Pre-K education were also reported.
Paul Healey, president of the principals association, which represents 3,500 members, spoke about the organization’s in-house survey.
“Quite frankly, we didn’t need a survey to tell us what we already knew about what’s important in Pre-K,” Healey said. “However, it is important that our voice now is in print to support these fine efforts of the campaign.”
Healey added that principals were unanimous in identifying kids who experienced Pre-K, as opposed to those who did not.
Evans Elementary Principal Dujuana Ambrose provided her own insight on that claim.
“The children from high quality Pre-K are better equipped for success. It’s not just about having basic literacy and mathematics, those are the essentials. It’s also about academic language that is used that allows children to make connections to the lessons taught in kindergarten classrooms,” she said.
“I support stronger, meaningful investments in Pre-K so that every child … can access early learning to prepare them for a lifelong of success.”
Erinn Rinn, director of development at Today’s Child of Delaware County, said watching young children develop skills in these programs is a “marvel” at the “lightning fast transformation” in the centers up until kindergarten.
“The children think they’re going to school to have fun and play, but they don’t know that what’s actually happening is the environment is carefully designed to promote learning and develop age-appropriate behaviors,” she said. “Investments are in those children and those families … Quality Pre-K really does what the science says it does.”
Since the Pre-K for Pa. campaign launched in 2013, $90 million has been added to the state budget for Pre-K services, helping about 10,000 children, according to Benso. Still, about two-thirds of eligible preschoolers don’t have the opportunity to attend state-funded, Pre-K programs.
With payments for state programs, including Pre-K, set to end if the Legislature doesn’t approve funding sources by Sept. 30 for the state budget, Monday’s presser couldn’t have been more timely.
“The impetus is the desire to validate from local experts, our frontline education leaders,” Benso said. “The timing has nothing to do with the state budget; it’s just sort of regrettable that the timing gives you a two-fer.”
Read the article here.
The Sanatoga Post: West Pottsgrove Event Touts Pre-K Advantages
September 21, 2017 by Joe Zlomek
STOWE PA – Advocates for establishing pre-kindergarten classrooms across the state arrived Wednesday(Sept. 20, 2017) at the Pottsgrove School District’s West Pottsgrove Elementary School to promote findings of a new report that says enrolling children in quality pre-K programs gives them important tools for learning.
The four-page report, available here from the “Pre-K for PA Campaign” and the Pennsylvania Principals Association, said surveys of the state’s elementary school principals indicate more than 98 percent agree quality pre-K is essential to prepare children – especially those in lower income families – for kindergarten.
But Paul Healey, the association’s executive director, told those at a press conference held at 1 p.m. in the West Pottsgrove building that almost two-thirds of Pennsylvania’s eligible preschoolers lack access to publicly funded pre-K programs. His message: “We really need to do a better job as a state to advocate for pre-K, early childhood experiences, as well as closing that opportunity gap.”
West Pottsgrove Principal Terri Koehler, a proponent of expanding the district’s interaction with local public and private pre-school classes, was among those participating in the media event. She testified that teachers’ experiences with students supported available research indicating the classes better prepared them to succeed later in school.
Studies have shown pre-K can reduce the need for learning remediation or for children to repeat grades, as well as improve their performance on standardized tests, according to the association.
Funding for quality pre-K has growing bipartisan support, Healy claims. The 2017-2018 Pennsylvania budget passed earlier this year includes a $30 million-increase for the state’s Pre-K Counts and Head Start programs. Although finding revenue to support that increase is a battle still being waged in the state Legislature, Healey calls the tentative monetary boost a step in the right direction.
The district is a direct beneficiary of the Pre-K Counts initiative. Thanks to grant funding from the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, on Wednesday it opened a pre-kindergarten class that will operate 6-1/2 hours per day at West Pottsgrove for 20 students. Koehler said its children will learn important educational concepts, get exercise in recess activities, and develop social skills.
A state investment of an additional $310 million by 2022 would ensure that every at-risk child in Pennsylvania could have access to high-quality pre-K, Healy added.
Read the article here.
Reading Eagle: Group calls for more funding for pre-K programs
September 21, 2017 by Matt Carey
Advocates for publicly funded pre-kindergarten classes said Wednesday that almost two thirds of eligible preschool-age children don’t have the ability to attend quality classes and urged lawmakers to support funding increases for pre-K. Leaders of the statewide Pre-K for PA campaign said their goal is to ensure every student in the state with a financial need can attend publicly funded pre-K by 2022.
Dr. Paul Healey, executive director of the Pennsylvania Principals Association, said that a recent survey conducted by the association showed that 99 percent of elementary school principals in the state agreed that publicly funded, high quality pre-K was an important tool in preparing students for kindergarten.
“School principals know and understand that a quality pre-K experience provides each child entering kindergarten with a growth mindset and a readiness to succeed,” Healey said at a press conference Wednesday at West Pottsgrove Elementary School.
Healey said about 80 percent of principals reported children demonstrated improved math and reading skills, and 57 percent reported children who attended high quality pre-K were less likely to be retained in kindergarten through second grades.
“These are results that will drive savings for our cash-strapped public schools and help to ensure that our children are successful,” Healey said.
“We see firsthand the difference in children who experienced quality pre-K and those who did not,” added Terri Koehler, principal of West Pottsgrove Elementary, which hosts children in kindergarten through second grade.
Read the full article here.
Pottstown Mercury: In West Pottsgrove, pre-k advocates press for increased state funding
By Evan Brandt 9/20/2017
Wednesday marked the day that the school district’s first 20 Pre-K students took their seats at West Pottsgrove Elementary School.
So perhaps it was appropriate that on the same day, in the same school, educators gathered to release the results of a survey on the benefits of early education and to advocate for more funding to spread those benefits state wide.
“If every child who needs it had access to high-quality pre-K, we would see fewer children struggling or needing special education,” said Paul Healey, executive director of the Pennsylvania Principals Association.
Between April 11 and June 18, his organization asked every elementary principal in Pennsylvania to take a survey about the importance of pre-K education.
Of the 351 principals representing 217 of Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts who responded, 99 percent either agreed, or strongly agreed, that it is very important.
“High quality pre-K provides the opportunity for children to get ready for school, helping build their early literacy skills, which provides children with the foundation to have the stamina and skills to be successful in elementary school,” said Terri Koehler, the principal at West Pottsgrove Elementary.
POTTSGROVE DEBATES, APPROVES PRE-K
Last week, the Pottsgrove School Board approved an agreement to host the 20 pre-K seats provided through funding from the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, but not before debating the matter.
Two board members, Robert Lindgren and William Parker, warned that should the state grant funding go away, “parents will still want the program and then it will become something local taxpayers have to pay for,” as Lindgren put it.
Parker, who voted no, said “schools are being asked to do too much, giving parents an excuse not to parent.”
But School Board President Matt Alexander and board member Rick Rabinowitz disagreed.
“There are lots of families in this district where both parents have to work and they have no choice but to access some kind of day care,” said Rabinowitz. “If this is an upgrade, that’s nothing but good for the students, the parents and the district.”
“We have 20 kids who need help who are going to get help as a result of this program,” said Rabinowitz. “This is a no-brainer.”
“When families don’t have access to pre-K, the are behind when they come to kindergarten,” Koheler told the board. “We talk about an achievement gap, well without pre-K, it’s there when they start.”
“I wish there were more seats available,” said Alexander. “This will make a huge difference in the quality of life for many of our families.”
STATE BUDGET PROVIDES MORE
There are more seats available this year state wide.
According to information provided by the Pre-K for PA Campaign, funding for pre-K was increased by $30 million in this year’s budget, adding 3,500 new pre-K seats to classrooms across Pennsylvania.
Locally, four early education programs in the Greater Pottstown Area have received an additional $1 million through the new state budget, as Digital First Media reported last month.
At $357,000, Pottstown School District received the region’s largest grant, which is in addition to the grant money it already receives from that program.
Pottstown can now offer a full day Pre-K Counts classroom at Franklin, Lincoln and Rupert elementary schools, in addition to the Barth pre-K classroom that started last year.
The grant funding, combined with district funds, means the district can now offer a full-day 4K classroom experience to all families of 4-year-old children regardless of income, as long as they reside in Pottstown School District.
The Owen J. Roberts School District in South Coventry received a grant of $170,000, which allows the district to bring up to 100 the number of students it serves through a partnership with Warwick Child Care.
Additionally, the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit received $340,000 and a portion of that money was used to provide the 20 seats at West Pottsgrove Elementary School.
BUDGET IMPASSE A THREAT
But all of those additional education opportunities could be at risk if the General Assembly cannot agree on a revenue program to fund the spending plan it adopted at the end of June.
“We’re in a crisis,” said Joan Benso, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. “Without a resolution of this half-baked budget, the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit will not get paid on Sept. 30 and we could have to tell all these children who just started school they have to go home.”
SUBURBS HAVE MOST UNMET NEED
Even if the budget matter is resolved, and with the additional funding budgeted this year, fully two-thirds of the Pennsylvania students eligible for access to pre-K — nearly 113,000 children — still don’t get it, said Benso.
An additional $310 million in state funding for pre-K by 2022 would provide access to every at-risk child in Pennsylvania, and $100 million more would open that access to middle income families, according to the Pre-K for PA campaign.
The percentage of underserved children is highest right here in the suburbs, according to a recent report by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children titled “A Path Forward.” It found that 74 percent of income-eligible preschool students in the suburbs are not served.
According to an interactive map in the report, the local districts with the most unmet need — 80 percent or more of eligible children not receiving early education — are Daniel Boone, Boyertown and Upper Perkiomen.
In Spring-Ford, Owen J. Roberts, Perkiomen Valley and Pottsgrove, 60 to 80 percent of eligible children do not receive pre-K education.
The districts best meeting the early education needs of eligible children are Pottstown and Phoenixville, each of which nevertheless has 40 to 60 percent of eligible children not being served, according to the report.
GOOD RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Serving those at-risk children is a good investment, Benso said, pointing to research by University of Chicago professor and winner of the Nobel Prize for economics, James J. Heckman.
Heckman’s analysis of one pre-school program showed a 7-to-10 percent, per-year return on investment based on increased school and career achievement as well as reduced costs in remedial education, health and criminal justice system expenditures, according to his web site.
The authors of “A Path Forward,” went further, writing that “every dollar invested in high-quality pre-K returns up to $17 in long-term savings and benefits.”
According to the report, “children who benefit from high quality pre-K are less likely to drop out of school and more likely to graduate and attend college, boosting their employment opportunities and earning power while reducing social services costs.”
Read the full article here.
Public News Service: Budget Agreement Called Victory for PA Kids
July 5, 2017 by Andrea Sears
HARRISBURG, Pa. – The budget agreement passed by Pennsylvania’s General Assembly gives a big boost to early childhood education.
The bipartisan spending plan adds $25 million for the state’s Pre-K Counts program, and almost $5 million for Head Start.
Joan Benso, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children and a partner in the Pre-K for PA program, said that will open the door to critical learning programs for thousands more three- and four-year-olds across the Commonwealth.
“The Pre-K for PA Campaign is striving to ensure that every child at risk of school failure has access to high-quality, publicly-funded pre-K by 2021-22,” Benso said, “and this increase is a really great step in that direction.”
Gov. Tom Wolf is expected to sign the budget if the General Assembly is able to agree on a revenue package to pay for it in the next week.
Benso added that the budget also restores $20 million previously cut from child care, and funds a totally new program to help parents.
“That will create a grant program for evidence-based home visiting initiatives that reduce child abuse, improve health, improve early learning,” she explained. “That appropriation is nearly $5 million.”
Benso cited decades of studies showing that high-quality early education pays a lifetime of dividends, including higher high-school graduation rates and greater earning potential in adulthood.
“The estimates are that there’s a return of about $4, at least, for every dollar invested,” she noted. “And any public investment that returns more than the dollar you invested in it is a winner in our book.”
The budget agreement also increases K-through-12 spending by $100 million, and special education by $25 million.
Read the article and listen here.
Lehigh Valley Business: Report links workers’ reliability to preschool attendance
June 12, 2017 by Brenda Lange
It stands to reason that, at least in some professions, the most successful employees have the highest level of education.
It may surprise some to discover that in many cases, the most desirable employees have received the highest-quality preschool education.
Over several decades, through various studies and anecdotal evidence, it has been shown that the type of education a child receives before entering kindergarten gauges how well he or she will fare in the workplace later in life.
On the surface, the connection seems clear. A quality preschool education increases a child’s chances of succeeding in later schooling and in life. They are more likely to graduate from high school, less likely to become involved in criminal activities and are more likely to find a good job and earn more income.
Other studies, including several reported in a 2015 New York Times article, say that any gains made in pre-K programs disappear or even out by the third grade. The difference, according to the article by David L. Kirp, is the quality of the education, and, of course, the amount of money spent on the program.
LANDMARK STUDY
A seminal study in the mid-1960s involved 123 low-income, African-American children. Half received a quality preschool education and the control group received none.
By the time the children reached age 40, the differences were dramatic, according to a 2010 article in Wired citing the Perry Preschool Experiment.
“Adults assigned to the preschool program were 20 percent more likely to have graduated from high school and 19 percent less likely to have been arrested more than five times. They got much better grades, were more likely to remain married and were less dependent on welfare programs,” Jonah Lehrer wrote.
The study also showed that the adults who had been well-educated as 3- and 4-year olds didn’t maintain higher IQ scores. Instead, their education improved “performance on a variety of noncognitive abilities, such as self-control, persistence and grit.”
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL SKILLS
Area businesspeople and human resource professionals agreed.
“Developing positive social-emotional skills affect one’s success in the workplace, where daily interactions with others are unavoidable,” said Don Bernhard, retired director of community affairs at PPL Corp. and now the executive director of Downtown Allentown Community Development Initiative.
He also has been a member of the board of Community Services for Allentown for 22 years, where he serves on the Governor’s Early Learning Commission, which advocates for and engages other businesses to provide more funding for early childhood education.
“There is a cost-effectiveness to investing in early childhood education,” he said, “especially for children growing up in poverty and suffering the stress that goes along with that. There are studies that show that stress reactions of dealing with everyday life affects their learning.”
LAST FOR A LIFETIME
Bernhard conceded that quality programs for the youngest students are not cheap, but, he added, “compare that to what it costs to get someone back on track later in life.”
Through such education, 3- and 4-year-olds learn how to manage emotions and solve problems, develop flexibility, communication skills, teamwork, perseverance and empathy – a checklist of what it takes to make a good employee.
“There is compelling evidence that these high-quality, early childhood education programs help develop these skills and that they last for a lifetime,” Bernhard said. “They are highly relevant to people who are hiring.”
The Allentown Community Development Initiative coordinates the efforts of many larger companies in Allentown that want to ensure the newfound prosperity in the city’s business sector carries over into the surrounding areas.
EMPATHY TOPS THE LIST
Jon Conrad, vice president of human resources at Moravian College in Bethlehem, cited one quality that makes an overall desirable employee: empathy.
“An employee who is empathetic is a better employee than someone who only thinks about their own wellbeing,” Conrad said. “That’s just one trait, along with discipline and compassion, that is learned early by children who have good examples.”
He added that employers who exhibit the culture of positive emotional-social skills will often attract employees who fit into that culture.
“Such a supportive environment allows parent-employees to be more supportive of their children,” which creates a matching environment, Conrad said.
TEAM PLAYERS
Of course, a hiring manager has no way of knowing if an applicant was taught in a Head Start program, for example, which not only helps youngsters develop coping skills and personal and social development among other traits, but also measures results.
HR professionals are, however, well-versed in the STAR interview technique, which stands for “situation, task, action, result.” Interview questions are phrased to elicit information about a prospective employee’s character traits that tie back to social-emotional skills children learn when young.
Bernard agreed. A company’s success most often hinges not on “rock-star” employees, but rather on the development of a group of team players who know how to collaborate.
“Developing empathy, ethics, how to be a decent human being is easier when young, just like learning languages,” he said.
Read the article here.
