The Pew Charitable Trusts completed its 10-year campaign to advance high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year-olds in 2011. Through its successes, Pre-K Now changed the national conversation about pre-k education, and in its final report, challenged the nation’s policy makers to transform public education by moving away from the current K-12 system to pre-K-12.
Visit the Pew Home Visiting and Children's Dental Campaigns and the Families and Health issue sections of this website to learn more about critical programs for young children.
Why Pre-K Matters
We know from more than 50 years of research that vital learning happens before age five. Yet, for decades, policy makers and education leaders have been working to “fix” public education while overlooking the demonstrated benefits of pre-kindergarten education. To ensure that all children fulfill their potential as individuals and citizens, we must re-imagine public education as a system that begins not with kindergarten, but with quality pre-k, and builds on that foundation to raise performance in later grades.
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Transforming Public Education
In its final report, Pre-K Now laid out a strategy to transform public education by moving from the current K-12 model to a more effective, evidence-based pre-K-12 system.
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Pre-K as School Turnaround Strategy
This issue brief highlights how investing limited funds in proven early education programs can raise student achievement and improve school performance.
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On the Home Front
This issue brief from Pre-K Now details the results of an Internet survey of 500 military households exploring the challenges facing military families with young children.
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Creative State Pre-K Policies Offer Smart Federal Opportunities
This brief highlights some of the most promising state efforts to fund high-quality Pre-K programs and offers recommendations to help federal policy makers support and encourage greater expansion. more
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Lessons in Early Learning
This 2010 report looked at how Montgomery County Public Schools used local and federal dollars to craft, implement and improve a system-wide education reform strategy built on a foundation of providing high-quality pre-k education.
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Engaged Families, Effective Pre-K
This 2010 report identified policies that can enhance family engagement in state pre-kindergarten and highlighted examples from states that are leading the way.
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The Right Policy at the Right Time
This 2010 report answered two questions: How did the campaign build a successful national movement to advance pre-k? And: How can we use the lessons learned to inform public debates on other policies essential to help children thrive?
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Formula for Success
This report discussed the benefits and challenges integrating early education into states’ general education funding structures and explored the different models for employing such a strategy. more
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The Case for Pre-K in Education Reform
This brief from Pre-K Now highlighted findings from evaluations of state-funded pre-k programs that continue to document gains in key measures of student learning, including early literacy, math and vocabulary; reduced need for special and remedial education; and significantly lower incidences of grade retention. more
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Pre-K & the Race to the Top
This report informed education advocates and stakeholders about the innovative strategies that states used to include pre-k in their Phase 1 proposals for Race to the Top.
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