Most of our nation's schools use letter grades to measure students' performance levels. With a grade of D-plus, a new index on early-childhood education indicates the United States and Pennsylvania have much room for improvement.

Based on the Early Education Index, 40 states received a grade of C-minus or lower. Pennsylvania's overall score was 67.1 points out of 100. The Index's top performer with a B-plus, or 89.5 points, was the District of Columbia.

Developed by the Education Week Research Center and recently released as part of the national Quality Counts 2015 report card, the new Early Education Index measures levels of participation in early-childhood education programs and services, as well as aspects of equity and enrollment trends from 2008 to 2013.

Using federal data on participation in preschool and kindergarten (both public and private), the index focuses on low-income families, their enrollment in full-day programs and the percentage of low-income children who attend Head Start, the federally-funded preschool program for children from disadvantaged families.

Critical need

"The need for preschool is critical in helping students to arrive ready to learn in kindergarten," said Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Dr. Joseph D. Roy. "Many families have the financial resources to access high quality preschools. Many families do not. For those who do not have the resources, state/federal funding can help defray the costs and make pre-K available.

"I would support any efforts to increase the accessibility of high quality pre-K in the community," Roy added, but he also believes there are plenty of quality private preschools for parents who can afford to enroll their children.

According to the Education Week Research Center's kindergarten enrollment analysis, while the majority of eligible children attend kindergarten, a quarter of those kindergarteners are enrolled in part-day programs.

As for Lehigh Valley full-day kindergarten programs, in the fall of 2015 BASD students will receive the time equivalent of 90 additional days of school when the district moves to universal full-day kindergarten, Roy said. The district's expansion of full-day kindergarten programs allows all 16 of the district's elementary schools to enroll children.

LV programs few

Across the Lehigh Valley, access to full-day kindergarten is in its infancy. According to recent news reports, Northampton Area and Nazareth Area school districts offer full-day programs as well as many charter schools. Catasauqua and Salisbury school districts are considering full-day kindergarten proposals. Superintendents at Saucon Valley, Whitehall-Coplay and East Penn school districts could not be reached for comment.

While most districts While most districts in the state have full-day kindergarten, Pennsylvania is one of six states that does not require it.

To be sure, state performance is very inconsistent across the early education index's eight indicators. The majority of states, or 29, rank in the top 10 in the nation for some of the indicators but in the bottom 10 for others. This is primarily because in the area of early childhood education no states mandate preschool attendance and the patchwork of laws and programs across the states vary dramatically.

The Education Center's analysis finds preschool participation rates vary across states as do the poverty-based gaps in enrollment.

According to the Index, for most states preschool participation rates for 3- and 4-year-olds fall between 40 percent and 50 percent.

In 10 states and the District of Columbia, which require children to attend preschool, attendance exceeds 50 percent. The District of Columbia leads the nation with a 76 percent preschool enrollment rate.

The Head Start program, which is the largest public preschool program, targets low-income and at-risk children. In nearly all states, children from higher-income households are more likely to attend preschool. According to the Index, nationally, there is a 16-percentage-point enrollment gap that separates poor and non-poor children.

Underserved

In Pennsylvania, with 8,237 children under 5 years living in poverty (based on the 2012 American Community Survey), the Head Start and Early Head Start program combined is only serving 14 percent of the eligible children in the Lehigh Valley.

According to Community Services for Children's 2013-1024 annual report, while the need for pre-K programs that will prepare children for school is a positive trend, funding constraints and reductions have resulted in a loss of free public preschool slots available in the Lehigh Valley. Over the past three years, this is a net loss of 340 early childhood slots for the families and children at greatest need.

Roy said BASD runs four pre-K classes that are entirely funded by the Pre-K counts grant.

"Those classes serve about 78 students," he said. "Prior to 2010, state grants including the Pre-K counts grant funded pre-school seats run by the district for 300 at-risk students. So, we have seen a substantial decrease in district run pre-K classes as a result of the drying up of state grants."

Most Lehigh Valley educators would agree that while private programs like the YMCA offer quality pre-K programs and services, the need for pre-K programs continues.

"We hope the new governor will focus on helping make high quality pre-K experiences available to all children in the community - but that doesn't mean the district needs to do it," Roy said. "There are plenty of quality private preschools that do a great job - helping parents afford that pre-K education is the key."