THE CASE FOR PRE-K
Access to high-quality pre-k gives all children the opportunity to learn.
EVERY CHILD BENEFITS: When all children arrive ready to learn, they are best able to take advantage of the educational benefits of classroom learning.
- Children with access to high quality pre-k are more likely to advance grades and have improved social skills.
- Education investment must start early, before the achievement gap is too wide and very costly to overcome.
- A child’s brain is 90% developed by age 5, making the early years a crucial time in a child’s development.
Click here to download the one-page fact sheet: “Access to High-Quality Pre-k Gives All Children the Opportunity to Learn”
Pre-k strengthens our schools.
RESEARCH IS STRONG: A growing body of research demonstrates that high-quality pre–k strengthens a child’s overall performance in grades K through 12.
- Significantly improves children’s early literacy, language, math and social/emotional skills as they enter kindergarten.
- Reduces special education placements by nearly half through 2nd grade.
- Reduces grade repetition by as much as a third through 8th grade.
- Increases the likelihood of high school graduation and college enrollment, which in turn leads to stronger employment opportunities and increased lifetime earning potential.
Click here to read the one-page fact sheet: “Pre-K Strengthens Our Schools”
Pre-k lays the foundation for a more successful Pennsylvania.
PRE-K HAS SHORT- AND LONG-TERM ECONOMIC BENEFITS:
- It helps build intellectual infrastructure for the future, yielding both social and economic benefits.
- Other states, such as Georgia, New York, Oklahoma, Wisconsin and West Virginia, along with the District of Columbia, either provide high-quality pre-k or are on the pathway to providing it.
- Investment in pre-k saves taxpayers’ money in the long term by reducing the need for special education and remedial instruction, and increasing the rates of graduation and college enrollment.
- Decreases the likelihood of at-risk children committing a crime later in life.
Click here to read the one-page fact sheet: “Investment in High-Quality Pre-K Lays the Foundation for a More Successful PA”
Introducing: Pre-K for PA
