Only three years into a 4-year pilot, the Seattle Preschool Program was awarded high honors this week in a national assessment of preschool programs. A new national report assessing how the largest U.S. cities address health and well-being issues awarded honors for high-quality preschool programs, with only 5 programs receiving higher honors than the Seattle Preschool Program.
A group of preschool children are learning to count with plastic blocks.
CityHealth, an initiative of the de Beaumont Foundation and Kaiser Permanente, analyzed the nation’s 40 largest cities for nine key policies that experts say help residents lead healthier lives and make communities thrive. CityHealth awarded each city a gold, silver, bronze, or no medal, according to their performance in the assessment. Nationwide, 33 out of 40 cities received a medal for high-quality Pre-K.
The Seattle Preschool Program shares the silver medal in preschool quality with Albuquerque, Chicago, Detroit, KC, Louisville, Philadelphia, and Virginia Beach.
“”We are so pleased that the CityHealth initiative has recognized the incredible progress the Seattle Preschool Program and all of our talented preschool providers have achieved within the first three years of the pilot,” said Monica Liang-Aguirre, Director of Early Learning for the City of Seattle. “As we move into our fourth year, we are excited to keep improving and providing more opportunities for families to access our high-quality preschool program.”
The Seattle Preschool Program was approved in 2014 by voters to fund a four-year pilot of the Seattle Preschool Program. The Seattle Preschool Program helps prepare children to enter school with the skills they need to succeed. Research shows that children who attend high quality preschool programs have better academic and life outcomes: they’re more likely to have better grades, graduate, attend college, get a job, have higher lifetime wages and better mental and physical health.
The Seattle Preschool Program is open to all 4-year-olds and income eligible 3-year-olds. To apply to the Seattle Preschool Program visit seattle.gov/applyspp
