Pennsylvania Department of Education has released a report that shows the "Positive Impact in Children's Lives Made By Pre-K Counts". Excerpt below:
According to the report:
• 94 percent of Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts children finished the school year with age-appropriate skills and behavior or emerging age-appropriate skills and behavior.
• 95 percent of children in Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts are affected by at least one risk factor for school failure; 75 percent are affected by two or more risk factors.
• 63 percent of lead teachers have obtained, or are working towards, teacher certification in early childhood education.
• Average class size of 16 children per lead teacher and teacher aides surpasses best practices in the field.
• Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts is serving three- and four-year-olds in every region of the state in school- and community-based programs.
• When compared to the National Institute for Early Education Research’s benchmarks for quality early education program, Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts meets or exceeds nearly every quality benchmark.
This information goes to what I said in a previous post about the strong possibility that PDE mandates full-day kindergarten for all school districts in the State. They are continually pushing this information out there in hopes of finding broad-based support for the change. I have no idea on the time-frame but I would guess it would happen before Rendell leaves office.
James
