Vanessa Crossgrove Fry was quoted in an Idaho Press article examining the results of a Boise Pre-K program.
“Boise Pre-K Program Seeing Success in Fourth School Year” reviews the program, a partnership between the City of Boise and the Boise Independent School District, which offers early childhood education to low-income students at elementary schools in Boise’s Vista neighborhood.
Since the program launched in 2015, Boise State’s Idaho Policy Institute (IPI) has been comparing the reading ability of students who completed the Pre-K program to students who haven’t.
IPI Research Director Vanessa Crossgrove Fry said early childhood education for low-income students can improve achievement now and help lift students out of poverty later in life. “It’s not going to change the poverty level of the parents, but the idea is to give that child the opportunity to break that cycle of poverty to make sure they meet that benchmark and successfully matriculate through high school and graduate,” Fry said.