109 HCON 47 IH: Commending the establishment in College Point, New York, of the first kindergarten in the United States. U.S. House of Representatives 2005-02-08 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

IV 109th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 47 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 8, 2005 Mr. Crowley (for himself, Mr. George Miller of California, Mrs. Jones of Ohio, Mr. Weiner, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mrs. Maloney, Mr. Owens, and Mr. Wexler) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Commending the establishment in College Point, New York, of the first kindergarten in the United States.

Whereas in 1854, Conrad Poppenhusen, a successful businessman from Germany, built a factory in College Point, Queens, New York, and, breaking with many entrepreneurs of his time, worked to create an environment beneficial to the immigrant community, which included schools; Whereas the Poppenhusen Institute was established in 1868 with a $100,000 donation; Whereas the Poppenhusen Institute was to serve the fundamental educational needs of the community and began as a free adult evening school for the residents of Flushing Town; Whereas in 1870, the Poppenhusen Institute’s services expanded to serve as the first free kindergarten in the United States for the children of Mr. Poppenhusen’s factory and the community; Whereas children who attend kindergarten demonstrate higher levels of reading and mathematics knowledge and skills than those who do not attend kindergarten; Whereas a number of studies, including studies commissioned by the Department of Education, demonstrate that children enrolled in kindergarten more rapidly acquire the knowledge and skills integral to succeed in school and life; Whereas the United States is a stronger, better place because of the children who are able to enrich their academic and social development through free, public kindergartens across the country; Whereas kindergarten is often the first common ground where students from a myriad of cultural, economic, racial, and religious backgrounds come together to learn about their world, each other, and themselves; and Whereas universal, free, high-quality kindergarten must be accessible to all of the Nation’s children, because of the benefits provided both to these children and to society at large: Now, therefore, be it

That— (1)the Congress commends the Poppenhusen Institute and the College Point community for establishing the first free kindergarten in the United States; and (2)the Congress supports the strong beginnings kindergartens across the United States provide for the Nation’s children.