How your child’s brain develops before age five affects how he will learn for life. By age five, 90% of your child’s brain and brain connections are developed! Thousands of connections that build language, math and social skills for life.
Why does this matter? Because the connections made in your child’s brain before age five set the foundation for all his learning as he grows up and become an adult. After age five, new brain connections are harder to make.
You want your child to be safe, well cared for and given lots of learning activities. Pennsylvania offers several programs for children from birth through school-age that are free or low-cost to eligible families that prepare children for success in kindergarten and beyond.
Pennsylvania’s Promise for Children, known as PA’s Promise, is a campaign to help families make good choices about their child’s early learning and choose quality early learning programs that are right for their family. The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) is the primary partner in PA’s Promise.
All the photos on the PA Promise website (except for family stories) are of actual Pennsylvania children and their families. We are grateful to them for volunteering to serve as a representation of families in Pennsylvania. We are also grateful for the photographic talents of Cecilia Lee who photographed the wonderful families. Read more about Cecilia and her special passion and commitment to Pennsylvania families
About OCDEL
The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) supports families and their children, from prenatal through school age, by using data, research and stakeholder guidance to assure high quality services.
OCDEL provides families access to high quality services to prepare children for school and life success, and strives to:
- Work effectively, collaboratively, creatively and successfully to ensure that all families have access to high quality programs for their children.
- Engage stakeholders in actionable ways that provide guidance on programs and policies.
- Identify and use key data and research to improve policies and practices.
For more information, please visit the PA Keys website.
Want to submit your child’s story to be features on the PA’s Promise for Children website? Click here to access the submission form!