The Tribune-Review: Pa. needs high-quality pre-K

Westmoreland County district attorney John W. Peck and Delaware County district attorney John J. Whelan share the benefits of high quality pre-K on behalf of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids:

“Fortunately, there is an intervention that has been proven to work. Investing in high-quality pre-K can help ensure that every child has the best chance possible for academic and social success. Data collected on more than 10,000 children throughout Pennsylvania show that Pre-K Counts Public Private Partnership worked to reduce disruptive problem behaviors — reducing the percentage of children with low levels of social skills or self-control from 21 percent to 4 percent. This is significant because 60 percent of children with high levels of disruptive, aggressive behaviors in early childhood will manifest high levels of anti-social and delinquent behavior later in life.

Such data compel our membership in the anti-crime organization Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a statewide organization of more than 200 Pennsylvania district attorneys, police chiefs and sheriffs, to advocate for expanded access to Pennsylvania’s high-quality pre-K programs. Decades of research show that at-risk children who do not receive a high-quality early-childhood education are more likely to drop out of school, to be placed in special education, to never attend college and to be arrested for committing crime.”

Read the full story here.