On-site Education Could Benefit Philadelphia’s 12,000 Children
of Teen Mothers and Pennsylvania’s Competitiveness
(Philadelphia, PA) February 23, 2010 – High quality early childhood education across the country has provided benefits that can have a potentially far-reaching impact on children born to teens. Public Citizens for Children and Youth (PCCY) explores whether these programs can be adapted to assist the children of Philadelphia’s teen parents in its latest policy brief, Success Over Two Generations: School-Based Programs for Teen Parents and Children.
PCCY’s six-page brief describes the essential component of early childhood education, parent engagement, and successful, single-school strategies that could be adapted for the needs of Philadelphia’s 12,000 children of teen parents including:
• Teaching Children and Parents at School: A Boston-based program offers early childhood education at the same site where teen parents attend school, encouraging parent-child bonding and opportunities for interactive learning by parents and children.
• Focusing on Graduation: Fort Worth’s Project Reach, uses programs that support parents’ educational achievement through academic counseling, tutoring assistance and coordination with the school administration.
• Coordinating Family Services: Parents seeking health care, financial planning, income support, housing and other forms of assistance have a single point of entry to learn about and apply for public services at the New York City Department of Education’s teen parent centers.
• Year-Round Enrollment: Full-day, year-round care at Boston’s English High School Adolescent Parents and Children Center enables children and parents to maintain contact with the center’s caregivers throughout the year, developing effective relationships, building trust and teaching soft skills.
Other successful approaches include supporting fatherhood outreach, flexible school scheduling and alternate schooling, providing transportation to school-based child care programs, and reliance on multiple local, state and federal funding sources.
“The strategies discussed in this policy brief have proven to reverse intergenerational patterns of school failure and poverty, yielding twice the return on their initial investment,” says Christie Balka, PCCY’s Child Care & Budget Policy, noting that public-private partnerships could be used to create child care programs at schools in Pennsylvania. “The state’s future economic competitiveness depends on an educated workforce. Providing early childhood education for children of teens dramatically increases young children’s chances of succeeding in school and graduating from high school. It also enables teen parents to graduate from high school.”
Copies of Success Over Two Generations: School-Based Programs for Teen Parents and Children can be obtained by calling the PCCY office, at 215.563.5848 ext. 15, or under the ‘Publications’ link at www.childrenfirstpa.org.