The fastest growing segment of the Arizona population is children birth through age five, and Arizona's children face a unique set of challenges:
- More than one in five Arizona children under the age of five lives in poverty, which can impede their ability to learn and can contribute to poor health. The presence of strong protective factors, including high quality early learning experiences, can offset the consequences of poverty
- One in ten high school freshmen will drop out of school before graduation, and one in five Arizona children lives in a home headed by a high school dropout. People who don't complete high school are more likely to live in poverty, and their children are more likely to repeat grades, require special services and risk dropping out of high school themselves.
- Nearly one in three Arizona children resides in a home where a language other than English is spoken. In the Balsz School District where Educare will be located, 75% of children enter kindergarten struggling to speak English.
- Fewer than half of Arizona children ages birth to three are read to on a daily basis. Research shows that children who are read to on a regular basis perform better in school.
- More than one in ten Arizona babies are born to teen mothers. Children born to teen mothers are at an increased risk for school failure and poverty.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Arizona ranks 39th out of 50 states in regard to child wellbeing. Something must be done to change a trajectory that is limiting the potential of too many young people.
Early childhood education is just the kind of investment that can make the difference. It is an investment in individual children to set them on the path to school success, but it is also an investment in society. Children who are stimulated and nurtured during the critical first years of life are less likely to require remedial or special education or to become involved with criminal activities. They are more likely to read at grade level, graduate from high school, and earn a good living for themselves and their own families. Clearly, early childhood education makes a long term difference, for individuals, their families, and for entire communities. Combining service delivery with professional development and advocacy, Educare is among the most compelling and promising models of early childhood education reform.
