The impact of early childhood education is both a long debated topic and, as
Nicholas Kristof pointed out several years ago, a bipartisan area of agreement. In Virginia, the recent expansion in funding for this area of education points to a political consensus that public investment in the learning of some of society's youngest members is worthwhile. As David Blount recounted in his
last General Assembly update, the approved budget sent to the governor:
- "provides $4.6 million over the biennium for the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, to include $3 million for a new pilot program to provide grants to incentivize additional public-private partnerships in preschool services. It also adds $2.9 million over the two years to increase the Virginia Preschool Initiative per pupil amount from $6,000 to $6,125."
At the same time, enrollment in early childhood education in the U.S. trails the average for the group of developed countries within the OECD. The graphic below, borrowed from a
US News and World Report article, shows that in 2013, the percentage of 3 year-olds enrolled was similar to Chile and Mexico and half the percent in Israel, France and Belgium.
The fact that the amount invested is not larger also points to some continuing uncertainty on whether public investments in early childhood education pay off in the long run. Without trying to sort out that question in detail, we did want to draw readers attention to a
recent study conducted in Baltimore City schools that looked at emotional and social school readiness in kindergarden and various factors. Among those showing a positive impact on the measure of readiness used was participation in a formal pre-K program. According to a
summary of the study at EdCentral, those students evaluated as "not ready" for school showed the following impacts by fourth grade:
- up to 80 percent more likely to have been retained (held-back);
- up to 80 percent more likely to require special education services; and
- up to seven times more likely to be suspended or expelled at least once.
If you're interested in various resources on the early childhood education debate, feel free to check out this series of briefings by the Brookings Institute or
this Atlantic Monthly article about the evolution of pre-K and early childhood education in the United States (trivia highlight - President Lyndon Johnson attended pre-K in 1912). Or, if you like your history in visual form, check out the infographic below.
