‘Life-altering for everyone': Kindering bridges the virtual gap to help kids with special needs

A new study suggests the gains from pre-K education are ephemeral, but Boston's program shows a correlation between pre-K attendance and third-grade achievement.

A unique educational collaboration in Long Beach, Calif., raises college admissions and graduation rates for underprivileged students by connecting high schools with community colleges. The process starts by awarding high school graduates with a tuitition-free year at any Long Beach City College, as well as admission into California State University - Long Beach, if they meet the minimum requirements.

A broader effort at Birch Meadow Elementary School and Reading’s eight other schools is putting students at ease and getting them more in tune with their emotions, and one another, so they can concentrate on learning.

Due to recent brain development research, educators are working to add more math education into pre-school and kindergarten classes. Studies show that children of this age are actually extremely receptive to numbers and learning geometry.

Preschoolers in the U.S. who misbehave are increasingly being expelled. In Connecticut, trained counselors educated teachers about how to deal with emotionally traumatized kids which reduced expulsions.

In Utah, Goldman Sachs funded the education of preschoolers and was reimbursed by the state once it was shown that the kids would not need special education. Social impact investments, like this one in Utah, can help social programs in the U.S. which are often affected by government cuts.

Missing days at school, even when excusable, starts children on a pattern of falling behind. A new U.S. department of education initiative has districts tracking all absences, even in kindergarten, to identify and help kids with chronic absenteeism sooner.

Preparing the young for elementary education is a priority to nurture reading and social skills. For 16 years, Tulsa Oklahoma has instituted a state funded preschool, staffed with teachers trained in early education. Tulsa’s Pre-K initiative has shown that their children are more prepared for literacy skills and math; however, maintaining the positive results is a long-term challenge.

Children who experience neglect, severe stress or sudden separation at a young age can be traumatized - without appropriate adult support, trauma can interfere with healthy brain development, inhibiting children’s ability to make good decisions, use memory or use sequential thought processes to work through problems. Head Start Trauma Smart helps support traumatized and neglected children from acting out.

Universal preschool is a policy that is often hard to pass on voter referendums. But, as evidenced by examples in Detroit and New York, such an investment means that more children would do well in kindergarten, fewer would need special education or other extra help and down the line, fewer would drop out of high school, end up unemployed — or in jail.