Why Preschool?

Why Preschool?[1]

Connecticut school achievement data indicate that there is a wide achievement gap in school performance between children in low income communities and other towns that is also evident in children’s readiness for kindergarten.

• Children with two years of preschool were one and a half times as likely to be seen as ready for kindergarten in social/emotional skills that those without

• Children with two years of preschool were twice as likely to be seen as ready for kindergarten in language, literacy and math skills that those children without preschool

• Children with two years of preschool fared significantly better in language and literacy, math, social/emotional and fine motor skills than children with one year of preschool

• Children with English as a Second Language and two years of preschool experience fared significantly better in all areas than children with one year of preschool

•  87% of parents of children with two years of preschool were seen as highly involved in their child’s education.

Opening the kindergarten door is a milestone for virtually every child.  It signals growth, a larger community, and exploration.  The majority of children enter school ready to learn.  They are healthy, curious, and eager.  They share with one another, have respect for adults and reveal age-appropriate pre-literacy and math skills. 

Other kindergartners open the door with much less in their repertoire.  What some children learn in the years preceding kindergarten, others are just acquiring.  They have fewer words and many have been less exposed to books.  Some have not yet developed the basic social skills for formal schooling.  Others are in poor health.  The potential is equal, but the footing is not. 

 

[1] “Opening the Kindergarten Door: The Preschool Difference”, Connecticut Commission on Children, April 2004