• Read the Report

Providing Pennsylvania’s 3- and 4-year-olds with access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-k is a cornerstone of early childhood education. High-quality pre-k prepares young children to enter kindergarten ready to succeed. Through the state’s current publicly funded pre-k programs, Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance Program, eligible families can enroll their children in high-quality programs to help set them on a path to success. However, access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-k is limited, and not every eligible 3- and 4-year-old in the state has an opportunity to participate. This lack of access can place some children behind their peers and with the challenge of trying to catch up once they enter the K-12 system. Only 65,970 eligible children attend high-quality, publicly funded pre-k*, while more than 100,000 eligible children are unserved. That means 61% of eligible children are missing an opportunity to realize the educational and social benefits that high-quality pre-k provides.

• Read the Report

Access to high-quality, publicly funded pre-k makes a significant difference in the lives of Pennsylvania’s 3- and 4-year-olds by providing them with the opportunity to enter school ready to succeed. The most extensive pre-k program in the state, Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, was adopted as Act 45 to the Public School Code in July 2007, making 2022 its 15th anniversary.

• View or Download the Report

After a year-long planning project co-lead by PPC and the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC), this report is a culmination of months of interviews and focus groups with interested stakeholders, a national analysis of early intervention work in other states, and a review of data and current practices in Pennsylvania’s early intervention system.

• Data Sources and Methodology
• Pre-K Map and Fact Sheets

Access to high-quality pre-k is a fundamental building block of our state’s education system. In our role as a principal partner of the Pre-K for PA campaign, we annually update this mapping feature to help all Pennsylvanians learn more about this vital early learning experience in their local area. Use it to search by House […]

• Data Sources and Methodology
• Child Care Map and Fact Sheets

Every child deserves an equal opportunity to a quality educational foundation that will prepare them to learn, grow, and succeed. Use our interactive child care map created for the Start Strong PA campaign to see county, state or house district maps showing the percentage of children under 5 participating in the Child Care Works subsidized […]