Watch these videos and explore this site to learn what we can do to improve education.
High quality preschool gives our kids the foundation they need to be successful learners in school.
Even though preschool is for toddlers, the effects can last throughout a child’s education and their life—helping them become productive, contributing members of society.
Goldman Sachs has partnered with Granite School District, United Way, and Salt Lake County to provide high-quality preschool to hundreds of children. Goldman Sachs' financing has resulted in many fewer students needing special education later on in their education, saving money for schools across Salt Lake County.
Many students are behind before they even start school, and they may never catch up. Kids from tough circumstances—including children growing up in poverty or children whose families don’t speak English—are especially likely to be unprepared for kindergarten and first grade. Because most brain development occurs early in life, the earlier we help these children, the more effective that help will be.
In Salt Lake City (see video to the left), 110 children out of a 700-child cohort tested as severely behind and likely to need special education in kindergarten and first grade. After just one year of preschool in a Granite School District preschool program, 109 out of those 110 were able to overcome their challenges and be completely school-ready.
Graduates of Granite School District's preschool program are now as old as high school and have consistently outperformed their peers, been on honor rolls, and are on track to graduate at much higher rates than was expected before preschool.
For almost a decade, the state of Utah has pioneered an innovative, at home school readiness program called UPSTART which currently serves over 20% of Utah’s 4-year-olds. UPSTART is an online program that partners with parents to help get children ready for school. Independent research indicates that children who used the program continued to outperform their peers in reading, math and science through 4th grade. These gains held for all categories of at-risk children: English Language Learners, minority, special education, and low income.
Kids who go to high-quality preschool programs are prepared academically, but also learn important social skills that help them do well in school all-around.
Teenagers who attended preschool are less likely than peers from similar backgrounds to go through the juvenile court system.
Every dollar spent on preschool saves about $7 in taxpayer money by helping kids avoid special education, criminal justice, and other interventions.
Getting children in preschool has been proven to deliver the outcomes Utahns want from education: a higher quality of life, the knowledge and skills they need to achieve their goals, and prosperous communities. Take a look at the research and resources below to learn how getting children in preschool will create a brighter future for all of us.
http://educationpolicy.air.org/sites/default/files/10-Preschool.pdf
Illinois State Board of Education (2013). Illinois early learning and development standards. For preschool (3 years old) to kindergarten enrollment age ; Yoshikawa, H., Weiland, C., Brooks-Gunn, J., Burchinal, M. R., Espinosa, L. M., Gormley, W. T., . . . Zaslow, M. J. (2013). Investing in our future: The evidence base on preschool education (Vol. 9): Society for Research in Child Development and Foundation for Child Development.
The Early Years: Child well-bring and the role of public policy