Pre-K plays a critical role in ensuring students start strong in kindergarten, which is an early indicator of future academic success. Quality early learning experiences positively impacts students’ social, emotional, and academic development and lowers their risk of repeating a grade.
Students who start school ready for kindergarten are more likely to be reading on grade level in third grade, and the effect of a strong start is even more dramatic for students who are economically disadvantaged or dual language learners.
Despite these benefits, approximately 44,000 students in Houston are eligible for free pre-K but are not currently enrolled in any early childhood learning setting. We have worked alongside partner districts on a campaign to support the growth of enrollment and outreach to eligible parents.
As part of this Pre-K enrollment campaign, we aligned more than 25 Houston-area school districts and Head Start programs around a common enrollment period for pre-K enrollment from April 29 through May 3, 2019. The campaign encourages parents to visit PreKHouston.org, a new website to support parents in navigating their options for pre-K.
The campaign also includes billboards, radio ads, social media, and a TV commercial filmed by H-E-B and Astros’ players George Springer and Carlos Correa (filmed in Spanish). Good Reason Houston also provided school districts with an outreach toolkit for direct family outreach, in addition to sponsoring two enrollment events to help families enroll their children.
Pre-K enrollment week runs April 29th – May 3rd, but families can continue to enroll their children in pre-K until the start of the 2019-20 school year. Watch our video with the Astros below, and visit PrekHouston.org to learn more!
