NEWS ROOM

For a city plagued by a devastatingly high poverty rate (one of the highest in the nation), pre-K is not an option – it’s a critical equalizer. Neuroscientists attest that 80 to 90 percent of a child’s brain is developed in the first five years of life. Early education can enable our most vulnerable children to break the cycle of poverty by capitalizing on the tremendous learning potential of 3- and 4-year-olds during this critical time in their development.

We invest for one reason: It “gets late early.” By age 5, 90 percent of a child’s brain is developed. It is a small window of opportunity with huge possibilities and potential, but it closes quickly. We also know high-quality pre-K is not accessible to many of our young learners who need it. Bucks County is home to 14,000 3- and 4-year-olds. Only a small fraction of these children are enrolled in publicly funded pre-K programs. Many of those missing out are those at greatest risk of academic failure. In fact, last year, 4,446 kids in Bucks County lacked access to a publicly funded, high-quality pre-K program.

As a superintendent, when it comes to early learning, I can’t stress enough the importance of the little things. So, a great deal of coordination goes into aligning pre-K curriculum with kindergarten expectations in math, reading and vocabulary — even installing a universal alphabet across classrooms, so kids will always have a bird as their picture clue for the letter “B.”

We must do more to help children and families overcome the financial barriers to quality pre-K education. This is the time to keep the pre-K momentum going; to ensure that all children can meet their potential.