Pediatricians know what fosters healthy child development, and as a group we agree: high-quality early education leads to healthy outcomes for children. That is why so many pediatricians are committed personally to the Early Education for All (EEA) Campaign, a coalition of leaders from diverse sectors working to ensure that voluntary high-quality early education is available to every Massachusetts' 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old.

The human brain develops more rapidly between birth and age 5 than during any other subsequent period. Medical and educational research has repeatedly demonstrated the important and lasting benefits of high-quality early childhood education on a child's social, emotional, and cognitive readiness for school.

Children, particularly those from high-risk environments, enrolled in quality early education programs fare significantly better in school and have improved long-term outcomes. Children who begin school lagging behind their peers often never catch up, and the success or failure of certain adolescents in school has been correlated with their degree of "readiness" at the time of entry into elementary school.

In Springfield where I treat children at Baystate Children's Hospital, 40 percent of children under the age of 5 live below the poverty line; 60 percent of children live in families where all parents are employed; and 60 percent of our third graders do not meet state standards for reading proficiency on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test. Clearly, Springfield's children would benefit from a universal high-quality early education program. Cherish Every Child, a city-wide initiative of the Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, is working together with EEA to improve the lives of our children by ensuring that they have access to high-quality early education and enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

With the steadfast support of the Springfield delegation, the Massachusetts Legislature has made an historic commitment to the health of all young children by unanimously passing An Act Relative to Early Education and Care (H.4755/S.2583). This landmark legislation creates the Massachusetts Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program. I am thrilled that my own legislators - Senate Minority Leader Brian Lees, R-East Longmeadow, and Rep. Gale Candaras, D-Wilbraham provided essential leadership to secure the passage of this important legislation.

We are grateful for the Legislature's vision and urge that this bill is promptly signed by Gov. W. Mitt Romney when it reaches his desk. In the coming years, the Legislature must also appropriate sufficient funding to see this vision to fruition. It's time that each and every child - in Springfield and across the commonwealth - has access to a high-quality early learning experience, giving them the healthy start that they deserve.