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Early Learning Advocacy Network Meeting
March 24, 6-7:30 pm
Location: United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley, Third Floor Conference Room, 2200 Avenue A, Bethlehem, PA 18017
The meeting will provide information about how Governor Rendell's proposed budget, released in early February, will impact quality early education programs such as Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, Keystone STARS, Early Intervention, Nurse-Family Partnership, Parent Child Home Program and Head Start. The Office of Child Development and Early Learning's Reach and County Assessment for FY 2008-2009 for both Northampton and Lehigh counties will also be handed out and explained.
This meeting is designed for Early Childhood Educators, Directors and Advocates. Please RSVP to Jan Marie Schwartz, jmschwartz@rcn.com if you are interested in attending
Success by 6 Overview
As the Community Engagement Group, United Way’s Success By 6™ engages stakeholders in actively promoting and expanding the benefits of early education for children, families, and communities. It also supports Pennsylvania’s early childhood programs: PA Pre-K Counts™, Keystone STARS™, Child Care Works™, Early Intervention™, and Nurse-Family Partnership™.
Pre-K to K Transition
Helping young children and their families prepare for kindergarten and school is one of the keys to ensuring children’s continuing success as students. United Way’s SB6 Community Engagement Group consists of early education leaders, school district teachers and administrators, community health professionals, media and business representatives, and parents.
Pre-K to K Transition is especially important to children who are at risk of failure in school because of poverty, parent education limitations, English as a second language, or special needs that impact learning. Children who start behind stay behind:
- If 100 children have trouble reading in 1st grade, only 12 will overcome those problems by 4th grade.
- If 100 children have trouble reading in 3rd grade, only 26 will overcome those problems by 9th grade.
- Children who are not skilled readers by the end of 3rd grade are more likely to drop out of school.
.The Pre-K to K Transition Working Group promotes linkages between schools, early care and education programs, families, and communities:
- To increase children’s familiarity with the classroom setting and the people who work there
- To help families access the resources they need to ensure a smooth and happy transition from home and/or preschool to kindergarten for every child
- To lay a strong foundation of educational continuity for children from home to school
- To broaden the community’s involvement in and understanding of, the importance of quality early learning.
State of Early Care and Education in the Lehigh Valley
80% of child care programs in Pennsylvania met only minimal standards for quality early education in 2006-2007.
Only 58% of Pennsylvania’s preschool and child care teachers had college degrees in 2006-2007. Most of this workforce is paid minimal wage with few or no benefits.
Only a handful of Lehigh and Northampton county child care and education and preschool programs meet the high standards of NAEYC (National Association for Education of Young Children) or have attained the level of STAR 4 in Pennsylvania’s Keystone STARS quality improvement program.
Community Outreach
Educating the community and the state legislators who represent Lehigh and Northampton counties about the importance of supporting quality early learning:
- Maintain and build new relationships with the media
- Better educate and engage business leaders about the importance of building a network of quality early learning programs
- Engage and increase dialogue with school district personnel
- Educate parents, grandparents, and the community about organizations participating in Keystone STARS.
The Community Outreach volunteer working group will oversee the distribution of materials designed to educate all stakeholders in our community about the importance of early learning and the success of the Keystone STARS quality improvement program, Pre-K Counts, and other important state-funded programs in support of young children: Other ideas include:
- Working with the Children’s Coalition of the Lehigh Valley in legislative outreach, helping parents understand the importance of their voice
- Increase efforts to provide more early care information to community newspapers as well as inviting them to all events
- Increase involvement of businesses and civic leaders with events sponsored by Community Engagement
- Increase relationships with school districts to be able to refer Keystone STARS center directors to the appropriate person when they contact their school district
- Plan a community forum featuring Rob Grunewald, Associate Economist, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Mr. Grunewald speaks to the important connection between early learning and economic development.
For more information about our Success By 6 community building partnership, please contact Mary Widmer at maryw@unitedwayglv.org or 610-807-5743 610-807-5743 or Amanda Victor at amandav@unitedwayglv.org or 610-807-5724 610-807-5724.
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