The Importance of Early Childhood Education

1. The Importance of Early Childhood Education Professor of Sociology Harriett RomoThe University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) Director of the UTSA Child and Adolescent Policy Research Institute

2. Children’s Outcomes • Pre-school affects children’s non-cognitive and cognitive outcomes, & reduces the risk of grade retention (Currie and Thomas 1995) • Short-term impacts for vocabulary and math might generate long-term benefits in excess of program costs (Ludwig and Phillips 2007) • Large long-term impacts have been found for schooling, crime, and other outcomes measured through age 40 (Schweinhart, Montie, Xiang, Barnett, Belfield, and Nores 2005) • Pre-school reduces childhood obesity (Frisvold 2007) • The most vulnerable children benefitted the most from pre-school programs (Ramey, Campbell, Burchinal, Skinner, Gardner and Ramey 2000:5) • Pre-K centers offer more structured, stimulating and developmentally appropriate curricula led by better-trained staff, all of which promote language development, reading proficiency and other skills (NICHD ECCRN 2005; Vandell 2004)

4. Teen Mothers’ Outcomes • “Having high quality, free day care available increased the success rate for teen-age mothers” (Campbell, Breitmayer and Ramey 1986:66) • Teen mothers who had easy access to high-quality child care for their children had an increased likelihood of completing high school, obtaining post-secondary education, and becoming self-supporting (Campbell, Breitmayer and Ramey 1986) • Only “23% of the teen-age mothers [participating in] a Pre-K program had subsequent children, compared with…40% in the group not participating in Pre-K” (Campbell, Breitmayer and Ramey 1986:66)

6. Mothers’ Outcomes • Education increases knowledge about how the educational system works, therefore educated mothers express a desire for cognitive enrichment in early childcare and prefer formal arrangements (Johansen, Leibowitz and Waite 1996) • As women gain education, they are more likely to use complex vocabulary with their children. In addition they read with and provide learning activities for their children, as well as encourage their children in intellectual pursuits (Chin and Phillips 2004; Hofferth and Sandberg 2001; Walker and Greenwood 1994) • “Child care costs are likely to be a particularly important factor in single mothers’ employment decisions, given that they are single earners and that their own earnings are typically low” (Han and Waldfogel 2001:552-553)

7. Low cost, high-quality child care helps moms work, confident that their children are well cared for! The more the moms learn, the more the babies thrive!

8. Investments in Education May Be MisdirectedBy Eduardo PorterNew York Times Business DayApril 2, 2013. • “Children of mothers who had graduated from college scored much higher at age 3 than those whose mothers had dropped out of high school, proof of the advantage for young children of living in rich, stimulating environments. More surprising is that the difference in cognitive performance was just as big at age 18 as it had been at age 3” • “The gap is there before kids walk into kindergarten… School neither increases nor reduces it”

9. Investments in Education May Be MisdirectedBy Eduardo PorterNew York Times Business DayApril 2, 2013. • “Research…confirms that investment in the early education of disadvantaged children pays extremely high returns down the road. It improves not only their cognitive abilities but also crucial behavioral traits like sociability, motivation and self-esteem” • “Studies that have followed children through their adult lives confirm enormous payoffs for these investments, whether measured in improved success in college, higher income or even lower incarceration rates” • “Julia Isaacs, an expert in child policy at the Urban Institute in Washington, finds that more than half of poor 5-year-olds don’t have the math, reading or behavioral skills needed to profitably start kindergarten. If children keep arriving in school with these deficits, no amount of money or teacher evaluations may be enough to improve their lot later in life”

10. The Competition that Really Matters: Comparing U.S., Chinese, and Indian Investments in the Next-Generation WorkforceCenter for American Progress 2012 • “Public investments in children are the key to improving competitiveness and strengthening the U.S. economy for the long term” (p.13) • Building human capital—the health, education, skills and talents that allow people to create, produce, and innovate—begins with opportunities in early childhood (p.13) • “Systematic investments in their young people by governments, families, and communities are the key driver of international competitiveness” (p.19) • “Human capital development must begin in early childhood” (p.21)

11. The Competition that Really Matters: Comparing U.S., Chinese, and Indian Investments in the Next-Generation WorkforceCenter for American Progress 2012 • U.S. currently has 58% of 3-5 year olds enrolled in full-day pre-primary programs up from 32% in 1980 (p.26) • Among the 45 major and emerging nations the U.S. system ranked 31 for availability of early education (p.27) • China is aiming to serve 80 % of all 3-4 year olds by 2020 (p.27)

12. San Antonio PRE-K for SA • Model centers to provide examples of high quality teaching, learning, collaborating with parents • High quality professional development • Greater availability of high quality full-day free/low cost early childhood programs • Educational programs for parents and community

13. San Antonio as a Progressive, Child-Oriented City • Fiestas, food, a beautiful river walk, history • Quality education, a city that cares about its children