From former P-I parenting reporter Paul Nyhan’s blog on the site, Birth to Thrive:

A new study suggests that quality pre-kindergarten not only prepares kids for school, but also reduces the percentage of students in special education, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.

Adding to the growing reasons why early learning matters, the study focused on students enrolled in Pennsylvania’s Pre-K Counts and found its classrooms helped to close the achievement gap.

Among “high-risk” low-income children, the rate historically has been 18 percent placement in special-education programs; but among children in the 21 schools districts participating in the Pre-K Counts program and examined by the study, the figure was only 2 percent.

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