Results from Pennsylvania's Support for Early Learning
Pennsylvania has supported it youngest children to ensure that each reaches school academically, emotionally, and socially prepared. The investments made by the Commonwealth are working in Pennsylvania.
High-Quality Early Care & Education Works in PA
(Reprinted with the permission of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children)
Research shows that quality early care and education can diminish the risks of school failure for young children and can help ensure that every child enters kindergarten ready to learn and succeed. As a Commonwealth, we must commit to supporting our youngest children to ensure that each reaches school academically, emotionally and socially prepared.
High-quality ECE programs are working in Pennsylvania:
- According to the 2006 Evaluation of Keystone STARS results, conducted by PSU professor Richard Fiene, Ph.D., Pennsylvania's quality rating system helps to improve child care quality. Keystone STARS is reversing the negative trend in child care quality that was evident in the 1990s.
- According to the PA Pre-K Counts Report for 2007-08, research conducted in Pennsylvania shows that quality pre-kindergarten:
ü Reduces special education participation and grade retention
ü Improves children's readiness for school
ü Improves children's early school achievement
ü Reduces need for speech-language therapy
- According to a the 2006 Invest Now or Pay More Later: Early Childhood Education Promises Savings to Pennsylvania School Districts study conducted by the Pennsylvania BUILD Initiative, school districts investing in pre-K could recoup as much as 78 percent of their spending in pre-K in education savings. Providing targeted preschool programs could reduce special education expenditures in the state by at least 8 percent annually ($68 million).
- Pre-K Counts standards score well on the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) rating scale for quality pre-kindergarten. Through small class sizes, educated teachers, appropriate curriculum and assessments, Pre-K Counts is producing results for students.
- According to the 2008 Increasing State Investments in Early Care and Education report by VOICES for America's Children, over the past five years, PA has increased investments by more than $700 million in programs for young children – and those investments are yielding high results in child care and pre-K.
