HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania is continuing to invest in quality pre-K programs for at-risk kids, but a new report says there's still a long way to go.

According to the report, pre-K lays a solid foundation for success in school and beyond, raising graduation rates, reducing special-ed placements, decreasing crime and saving taxpayer dollars.

Joan Benso, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children, says Pennsylvania is one of the 27 states that is investing in high-quality, publicly funded pre-K, and that investment has grown under four consecutive governors.

But, 64 percent of eligible children still are not being served.

"Other states, including our neighbors of New Jersey, Maryland, New York and West Virginia, are all doing a much greater amount of investments," she says. "Economic competitors like North Carolina are also beating us."

Pennsylvania ranks 20th in per capita investments in the programs.

Gov. Tom Wolf has proposed increasing state funding for pre-K by $75 million. That would make it available to an additional 8,400 three- and four-year-olds.

But, Benso points out that funding the program for the 113,000 eligible children in the state currently not being served will take an additional $340 million.

"And our hope in the Pre-K for PA campaign is that we'll move forward in this state in making that investment by the year 2021," she adds.

She also adds that every dollar the state invests in pre-K returns $4 in savings and benefits.

But Benso points out that the House budget, passed last month, only includes a $25-million increase in funding for it.

"We're urging lawmakers to push that number up toward that $75 million of the governor's, and make continued sustained investments so all of our eligible children can benefit from high-quality pre-K," explains Benso.


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Nearly 60% of Nebraska three- and four-year-olds are not enrolled in preschool programs, which are associated with increased success in school and beyond.

But for at least a decade, most preschoolers on Nebraska's Winnebago Reservation have been part of the national Educare Learning Network.

Amy LaPointe-Houghton, education director for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, said the Educare program was once described to her as "Head Start on steroids." She noted in their years with the Educare system, Winnebago children have gone from testing near the bottom to being "right in line" with children in the 24 other Educare centers across the country.

"We've made that huge leap and it's all around the data," LaPointe-Houghton explained. "We have our data compiled in a book every year, and things that are identified in that book, that's something we make improvements on."

She noted evaluators from the University of Nebraska Medical Center assess the children at the beginning and end of each school year. Educare Winnebago is the only Educare program in the country on an Indian reservation.

LaPointe-Houghton attributed their success to Educare's four pillars: data utilization, professional development, high-quality teaching and intensive family engagement. She pointed out one focus of their program is a social-emotional curriculum, teaching skills like identifying and expressing emotions in acceptable ways.

"To be able to better handle situations when they're encountering some kind of traumatic event, or a stressful event," LaPointe-Houghton added. "They have some tools to be able to help themselves."

LaPointe-Houghton emphasized research about the negative effects of stress and trauma on physical health makes them hopeful if their children learn how to manage stress, they will have better overall health, as well as more success in school.

"We have high numbers of diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease," LaPointe-Houghton observed. "It makes me think it could be contributed because of all the traumatic things that happen in people's lives and you don't even realize that it's doing damage to your body."

To enroll in Educare Winnebago, children must live in Winnebago but do not have to be tribal members. The program has eligibility requirements to ensure they're serving the children with the highest needs.


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Oregon is poised to distribute funds for early childhood learning and literacy. In 2023, lawmakers passed the Early Literacy Success Initiative, in part because only about half of the state's students were proficient in reading through third grade. School districts have since applied for grants with the Oregon Department of Education and funds are expected soon.

Marina Merrill, director of research and strategy with the Children's Institute, said the investments are exciting because brains develop faster in a person's first eight years of life than at any other point.

"Those years are just so critical, especially that 90% of a child's brain is developed by the age of five. Yet most of ur investments in young children start at age five," she said.

Grant applications from more than 200 districts and charter schools have focused on building capacity for early literacy through professional development and coaching. The Children's Institute is holding a webinar tomorrow about the state's investments and evidence-based early learning practices.

Herb Turner, founder of ANALYTICA, will participate in the Children's Institute webinar. He said evidence-based practices are ones that have been studied and shown to improve students' outcomes, meaning they can be used with confidence in the classroom.

"Oregon deserves a lot of credit for taking this on and for creating this emphasis on evidence-based practices and strategies, and getting behind evidence-based reading initiatives," he explained.

Cesiah Vega-Lopez, a pre-k teacher at the bilingual school Echo Shaw Elementary in Cornelius, outside Hillsboro, said she's used different practices to teach literacy, such as highlighting each letter of the alphabet with an animal that starts with that letter, and added that this is a critical time for kids.

"For them to be able to have this knowledge early on really helps support their learning as they move on through their trajectory of school, especially as they move on to kindergarten. So I think the focus on them learning or being aware of language is very important in their overall development," Vega-Lopez explained.

The Beaverton School District is blazing a trail in early education through bilingual learning labs, which emphasize playful inquiry and habits of mind.

School officials said the Early School Success initiative is designed to showcase the power of early learning and help make the case for expanded public investment in preschool.

Monique Singleton, principal at Vose Elementary in Beaverton, said the program helps children, many from immigrant families, successfully adjust to their new surroundings.

"I think the important part about the inquiry work that we're doing with Children's Institute, and I've talked about this with other principals and teachers, is that I think it's really important just to be exploring and listening to your community and be able to explore it," Singleton explained.

Vose Elementary hosted a learning lab earlier this week, showing participants in the district the transformative work the school is doing to improve outcomes for students and the community. The goals for the event were to hold space to nurture cross-district relationships and collaboration.

Singleton noted the emphasis is on teaching children life skills to help them cope with complex emotions and situations they either face at school, at home or both.

"The goal is to help them feel honored with a sense of belonging and a sense of safety around our emotions and a sense of identity," Singleton pointed out. "So they don't feel like they have to shut down a part of themselves in order to be successful at school."

Vose's faculty and staff are hands-on leaders who model empathy, learn alongside their staff, and consistently message the need for playful inquiry as an equity stance, Singleton added. They aim to provide children at Vose the same kind of learning experiences one might expect at an elite private school.


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