The three-month long battle over the 2009-2010 Pennsylvania budget left some early childhood education centers without funding and has made others afraid of harmful cuts in the future. Days after some pre-kindergarten programs reopened their doors, after having been delayed by the budget, the Heinz Foundation released a state-wide study demonstrating the benefits of these programs for at-risk children.

ENDING THE DEBATE—Theresa Heinz says she hopes this study will convince government of the importance of early childhood education.

“Science happened” during a two-day technology camp for girls from eighth through 10th grade at the Carnegie Science Center.

“Microsoft started the DigiGirlz camp in 2000,” said Donna Woodall, Microsoft Community Outreach manager. “We found that there was a disparity in the number of girls pursuing careers in the field of technology, so specifically we looked at a way to encourage young women to look at information technology as a valuable career.”

WITH ROBOTS—From left: Dana Townson, 13, of the Hill District; Jasmine Johnson, 15; Morgan Matthews, 13, of Ohio; Dawn Dallmus from City Charter high School; Sara Williams, 15, of Wilkinsburg; and Maura Boston, 14, from Upper St. Clair, are team Technically Girlz, with their robots.

Iowa City, Iowa—The latest edition of the ACT Parent Newsletter is now available online. ACT’s annual College Readiness Report shows the level of student college readiness for the most recent graduating high school class.

Read “Learning from the Class of 2009” at www.act.org/path/parent/news.

Measuring college readiness is just one of the ways ACT helps people achieve education and workplace success. In “Four Reasons Your Teen Should Attend College,” you’ll learn the value of a college degree and how it impacts lifetime earnings and employment prospects.

Had she continued the path she was on in high school, Fantasia Barrino might have been just another dropout and teen mother. But she was blessed with a talent, which she continued to hone until the opportunity to display it came along. Now, at 25, she is an “American Idol” champion, a successful recording artist, a Broadway star, a budding real estate magnate—and a student again.

Fantasia told her story to about 20 kids at the Bedford Hope Center in the Hill District Oct. 22 before touring the center’s newly installed digital audio/visual recording studio.

STRAIGHT TALK—Helping with the city housing authority’s Clean Slate program, “American Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino tells kids from public housing communities to work for their dreams and stay in school so they don’t make the mistakes she made.

“I’ve been singing since I was 5, a preacher’s kid from a small town in North Carolina,” she said. “But no one’s coming there to scout talent. I started down the wrong road, and I knew better. Then I got to audition for ‘American Idol,’ and I won. Now my music’s doing great and I’m back in school.”