Early Learning Reports
Please note some information contained in these publications may be out of date.
2012 School Readiness in Pennsylvania
View the Report | Data Sources | Data Sheets | County-Level Data Sheets | Press Release
Stagnant Opportunity Hurts Our Youngest Learners
Over the past year, Pennsylvania's efforts to prepare our youngest learners for a lifetime of academic achievement
and success have looked much like the economy that impacts them: positive change has been slow and, at times, immeasurable.
Fact Sheet on Pennsylvania's Rising STARS Initiative
Rising STARS is an initiative within the Keystone STARS program designed to ensure more at-risk children enrolled in Child Care Works have access to the highest quality child care providers. While Keystone STARS has increased child care program quality in the commonwealth, at-risk children’s access to the highest quality programs continues to be limited.
Child Care in Pennsylvania 2013 Fact Sheet
The need for high-quality child care
Child care helps parents work, which helps our economy. With more than 65 percent of parents working outside the home, safe, reliable child care enables parents to gain and sustain employment. However, child care is expensive, consuming up to one-third of the median wages for a family of four. Child care subsidies make quality child care more affordable, support the healthy development of children and help low-income parents access the child care they need to go to work or to school to support their families.
Pre-Kindergarten in Pennsylvania 2013 Fact Sheet
If Pennsylvania wants to create a competitive, world-class workforce in the midst of a challenging fiscal environment, we must invest in our youngest learners by providing high-quality early learning opportunities. Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, Head Start and public school pre-kindergarten are among the best investments we can make in children’s education. High-quality early learning is especially beneficial to children whose educational opportunities are hindered by poverty or other circumstances. When at-risk children benefit from early learning investments like Pre-K Counts or the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program (which supplements federal Head Start funding), they enter K-12 better prepared and less likely to struggle to keep pace with their peers. To best serve Pennsylvania’s children and taxpayers, state funding for Pre-K Counts and HSSAP is needed to ensure our investments help the most children and reap the greatest economic returns.
2011 School Readiness in Pennsylvania
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Early Childhood Supports are Vital in Difficult Economy
Pennsylvania's economy continues to struggle, and its children and families continue to feel the strain. More than 40 percent of Pennsylvania children under age 5 are living in low-income households, one in 20 children under 5 still lacks health insurance and many families that have survived the recession are still working to make up lost ground financially.
Despite the challenges, there are bright spots. Pennsylvania continues to make progress in several notable areas of child well-being. The number of children in foster care is on the decline, fewer newborns face the health risks associated with low birth weight and access to high-quality child care is on the upswing. Pennsylvania's challenge now is to continue our momentum rather than let our progress slow — or regress — under the burdensome weight of a sluggish economy.
2010 School Readiness in Pennsylvania
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Hard Times Persist for our Youngest Children
As our state and nation stumble along the path to economic recovery, our youngest children and their families are experiencing more than a few bumps in the road. The demand for supports to help parents make ends meet and address the comprehensive needs of their children are unparalleled in recent times. But shrinking state and federal coffers have fallen short to meet growing demand.
2009 School Readiness in Pennsylvania
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Gains & Losses Equal Mixed Results
This year’s School Readiness report displays interesting dynamics: growth in both full-day kindergarten and pre-K indicates promising headway in making these proven programs available to children, yet at the same time greater reliance on public programs including child care subsidy and health coverage points to an escalation of families turning to the government for help in these lean economic times.
2008 School Readiness in Pennsylvania
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Making Good Use of Public Funds
Pennsylvania children continue to benefit from an aggressive state investment strategy in school readiness. Pre-K Counts was enacted into law in July 2007 with funding for nearly 11,000 children. More than 58,000 three- and four-year olds attended high quality pre-K programs this past school year funded by Pre-K Counts, Head Start and basic education funding. The recently enacted state budget included funding for another 800 children in pre-K. Now, more Pennsylvania children than ever before are starting kindergarten ready to learn.
