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.”
