Ensuring Children Are Successful
Getting Preschoolers Ready to Learn
Have you ever watched a baby examine a set of
measuring spoons, or held your ears while a toddler
belted out her latest rendition of the alphabet
song?
When you watch a child play, you might not
realize how much is going on inside that tiny head –
but in fact the human brain develops more rapidly
during the first three years than at any other time
in life. The foundation for future learning is
established – or not.
When children don’t have the opportunity to
attend preschool, they may have trouble when they
start kindergarten and are expected to recognize
letters, have basic counting skills, and even read
or pretend to read.
That’s why helping kids gain the skills they need
to enter kindergarten ready to learn is crucial –
and why it yields such phenomenal results.
Research shows that every dollar spent on quality
early childhood programs returns up to $17 in
long-term savings, since children in these programs
will ultimately have higher paying jobs and will be
less likely to commit crimes as adults.
What we’re doing:
United Way is focusing on this
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by investing in
quality early childhood programs and increasing the
number of children who attend preschool.
Results:
More than 4,000 children learned skills
they’ll need in school by participating in one of
seven quality early childhood education programs in
central and northeastern Connecticut that received
United Way Community Investment funds last year. And
thanks to United Way support for the work of the New
Britain Discovery Collaborative, in 2007 New Britain
reached the state average of 75% of four year olds
attending preschool. Five years ago, New Britain
ranked last in the state with just 38% of children
attending preschool.
Keeping Older Kids On Track and In School
Helping children enter school ready to learn is
only part of our challenge. We know that
kids who are not on track in school when they’re in
4th grade are less likely to graduate from high
school. And children who participate in after-school
programs are 60% less likely to drop out of school.
What we’re doing:
United Way is focusing on quality
out-of-school programs that provide mentorship,
tutoring, and help developing skills to succeed once
they are out of school, like computer skills and how
to develop a resume or interview for a job; and
we’re investing in the Well-Managed Classroom
(WMC) model for improving the learning
environment in Hartford and New Britain schools, so
kids spend more time learning and less time
off-task.
Results:
Last year, 35 programs from 23 partner
agencies helped students improve academically.
Eighty percent of children gained skills to improve
academic success. In Hartford classrooms that
consistently used WMC strategies, 9 of 10
students were academically engaged; on average, only
one student was off-task every two minutes; and
fewer students were suspended. In addition, 95% of
students complied with teacher correction compared
with 51% of students in classes where WMC
was not used consistently.