New Jersey 101.5 – Kevin McArdle
“More than a dozen education experts showed up in Trenton for a Senate Education Committee hearing Monday and they gave panel members a very good idea how valuable an early education is. “At kindergarten entry the achievement gap was cut in half for the pre-school attendees with two years having twice the impact of one. Differences between attendees and non-attendees persisted through fifth grade. There was no fade out,” said Ellen Wolock, Director of the Division of Early Education with the State Department of Education. “Children who attended pre-school were three-quarters of a year ahead of those who did not attend.” A strong early education can often lead to a lot of great things later in life, including less need for repeating a grade and a reduction in remedial classes to help students catch up to their peers according to Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.”(more)