Rell joins other state leaders around the country in making historic funding commitments for pre-K programs. There’s a growing understanding that preschool is the crux of improving student performance and ending the gap in achievement levels between different populations of students…

“On average, children from low-income families enter school with a 3,000-word vocabulary. Those are the words a 6-year-old has heard in their life time,” Glass said.

In contrast, a middle-income student enters kindergarten with 5,000 words, and an affluent student comes with 7,000 to 10,000 words.

The lower-income student must double his vocabulary to level the playing field the first year, but since the affluent child will continue to learn at grade level, the poorer child will have a hard time closing the gap, Glass said…

“Now, what the children have to do in kindergarten is much more like what they used to do in first grade,” Ryan said. “That’s why they need preschool. They aren’t getting the chance to do the slow development in kindergarten.” …

“It’s a terrific time to be in education,” Glass said. “Folks are recognizing the inherent value of preschool. We have missed the boat for decades, but it’s better late than never.”

Source: NewsTimesLIVE
http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1045926