Better Life Outcomes a Better World
Early childhood education has been tied to better life outcomes. In 2012, several police chiefs highlighted the need for more and better preschool as a tool for long-term crime reduction.
At the same time, researchers have demonstrated that access to pre-K can help children get into college and climb out of poverty. James Heckman, a Nobel prize-winning economist, found that every dollar spent on Head Start yields $7 to $9 as the program’s alumni begin working and contributing to the economy. Helping students catch up in later grades costs more than early education programs. Scientists have also found that early education helps insulate children from the extreme stress that often comes with poverty. “Toxic stress,” as that condition is known, can warp the structure of a child’s brain in ways that may impede school success.
The percentage of eligible kids in state-funded programs doubled over the last decade, the report said. And politicians and editorialists have applauded the growth.
While more kids than ever are enrolled in state pre-K programs, enrollment growth has slowed and most states aren’t spending enough on the added slots to meet important quality benchmarks, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research, a grant-funded research group based at Rutgers University in New Jersey. State-funded pre-K is one of several types of preschool — private programs and federally funded Head Start are others. State programs accounted for 28 percent of U.S. 4-year-olds enrolled in preschool in the 2009-2010 school year, the largest type of preschool program.
University of Chicago professor James Heckman, a Nobel prize-winning economist, has demonstrated that every dollar spent on quality early childhood education yields a 7 to 10 percent return on investment as students graduate and begin contributing to the economy.
“Funding slipped as enrollment increased,” said Steven Barnett, the Rutgers education economics professor who directs the institute. “We’ve taken a giant step backward as a nation.”
The report, which the institute calls its “2011 State of Preschool Yearbook,” contains data compiled by tracking early childhood programs over the last decade.
The data shows a situation so dire that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and American Federation of Teachers union president Randi Weingarten are expected to discuss NIEER’s findings at a Monday event. “Our youngest learners will not be college- and career-ready if we slash preschool dollars,” Duncan has said of the cuts.
Funding per student for state pre-school programs has reached its lowest point in a decade, according to “The State of Preschool 2012,” the annual yearbook released by Rutgers University’s National Institute for Early Education Research. “The 2011-2012 school year was the worst in a decade for progress in access to high-quality pre-K for America’s children,” the authors wrote. After a decade of increasing enrollment, that growth stalled, according to the report. Though the 2011-2012 school year marks the first time pre-K enrollment didn’t increase along with the rate of population change.
“The state of preschool was a state of emergency” in 2012, said Steve Barnett, NIEER’s director.
“This is not a partisan or a liberal or a conservative issue,” said Barnett. “We need to raise achievement. We need more high school graduates. … And to do this, we must get education right from the very start.”
Additional Reading:
Preschool Funding Reached ‘State Of Emergency’ In 2012: NIEER Report
Posted: 04/29/2013
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/preschool-funding-2012-nieer-yearbook_n_3175249.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Early Education Faces ‘Crisis’ As Funding Plummets, Report Says
Posted: 04/10/2012
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/10/early-education-funding_n_1413481.html
From the American Academy of Pediatrics
Policy Statement
Early Childhood Adversity, Toxic Stress, and the Role of the Pediatrician: Translating Developmental Science Into Lifelong Health
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/129/1/e224.full.pd
National Institute for Early Education Research, a unit of Rutgers University
http://nieer.org/
Rutgers NIEER, The State of Preschool 2012
http://nieer.org/sites/nieer/files/yearbook2012.pdf
Hechmen Foundation
http://www.heckmanequation.org/