While many debate whether a preschool education provides long-lasting benefits, Nancy Newson of Clarksdale, Mississippi, is a firm believer in its value. Nancy’s daughter, MacKenzie, attended Pre-K three years ago at Myrtle Hall IV Elementary School in Clarksdale, and she attributes much of MacKenzie’s continued academic success to early learning.

“She is reading at an almost fourth grade level and her scores improved 50 points,” Nancy said. “She is also involved in the gifted programs at school. In our first parent-teacher conference, the teacher said she could tell that MacKenzie was a Pre-K student because she was so advanced. You like hearing that as a parent.”

Every elementary school in the Clarksdale Municipal School District has a Pre-K program that provides critical early learning opportunities for children. The curriculum focuses on subject matter such as letter recognition, counting and listening skills. Nancy says by the time MacKenzie finished Pre-K, she could do basic addition and subtraction, could read books and was writing short stories – all as a 4-year-old.

“MacKenzie’s teacher was a very dynamic person and really pushed the students; and she pushed us as parents, too,” Nancy said. “She did not see age as a limitation to the child’s ability to learn at advanced levels.”

Today, MacKenzie is an outgoing second grader and sits at the top of her class in reading. Nancy credits Pre-K.

“My advice to any parent considering whether Pre-K is the right thing is to just do it,” Nancy says. “It truly is an advantage to get a head start in education.”

The Walton Family Foundation supports Pre-K in the Clarksdale Municipal School District through our Home Region Program. Learn more about our work in the Delta region of Arkansas and Mississippi >>