Getting children ready for school means more than packing their lunches, filling their backpacks, and getting them to the bus on time. In fact, the job of helping children succeed in school starts the day they’re born.

Parents are a child’s first teachers, but all Arizonans share in the responsibility of ensuring that kids get a fair, smart start in life. A child who receives early childhood education and healthcare services before age five is more likely to succeed in grade school, high school and beyond.

Quality pre-Kindergarten can help your child find success — in school, and beyond.

It isn’t just an “early start.” Studies have shown how quality pre-Kindergarten programs can help kids establish a love of learning that will serve them their entire lives.

• Pre-Kindergarten helps children perform better on standardized tests.
• In Michigan, fourth graders who had attended pre-Kindergarten passed the state’s literacy and math assessments at higher rates than their peers who did not.
• In Maryland, fifth graders who had attended pre-Kindergarten were 44% less like to have repeated a grade than peers who did not.