Early Education: Capturing the Nations Attention

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Early EducationCapturing the Nations Attention
Susan K. Urahn The Pew Charitable
Trusts www.pewtrusts.com
Amy Wilkins Trust for Early Education www.trustfor
earlyed.org
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The Trusts Early Education Initiative

• Goal To promote universal access to
  high-quality early education for 3 and 4 year
  olds
• Research that informs policy debate (National
  Institute for Early Education Research)
• Advocacy that ensures policy makers hear diverse
  messages of support (Trust for Early Education)
• Federal
• States Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New
  York, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North
  Carolina
• New messengers business, law enforcement, K-12
  community

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Overview of the presentation

• Why is early education important?
• What is the state of early education in the
  United States?
• What are the benefits of early education
  programs?
• What are our challenges moving forward?

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• I. Why is early education important?

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What we used to believe about brain development?

• Nature vs. nurture
• Children needed to be held and hugged but real
  learning started later in life
• Brain development activity is at its peak when
  children go to school

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Current Psychology?

• Very often, in attempting to call forth and
  cultivate the intellectual facilities of children
  before they are six or seven years of age,
  serious and lasting injury has been done to both
  the body and mind.

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Current Psychology - 1833

• Very often, in attempting to call forth and
  cultivate the intellectual facilities of children
  before they are six or seven years of age,
  serious and lasting injury has been done to both
  the body and mind.
• Dr. Amariah Brigham

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Public Policy is stuck in the 19th Century Brain
growth versus public expenditures on children
Cumulative percent of public dollars spent on
children Percent of total brain growth
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What we know now about brain development?

• Children are born with brain synapses not fully
  connected
• Brain development is most active from prebirth to
  age 5
• Environment has significant impact nature and
  nurture

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• II. What is the state of early education in the
  United States?

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What does high quality early education mean?

• Beyond child care- includes a strong education
  component
• Multifaceted - addresses childrens social,
  emotional, physical and cognitive development
• Developmentally appropriate - not chaining kids
  to desks plenty of learning through play

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Early Education is already popular among U.S.
families

• Most families enroll three and four year olds in
  non-parental care.
• Families with a stay-at-home parent are also
  choosing to enroll their children in non-parental
  care at similar rates to two income families.

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Most 3 and 4 year old children are cared for
outside of the home (1999)
SOURCE National Center for Education Statistics,
(2001). National Household Education Survey of
1999 Data Files.
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Early Education is used by stay-at-home moms and
two-income families
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• III. What are the benefits of early education?

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High quality early education has significant
impact

• High quality early education reduces
• Grade retention
• Special education placement
• High school drop-outs
• Juvenile and adult crime
• Unemployment
• School readiness gap

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Kindergartners are not ready to learn

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Perry Number of Arrests by Age 27
SOURCE W. Steve Barnett, National Institute for
Early Education Research (www.nieer.org)
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Perry Economic Effects at Age 27
SOURCE W. Steve Barnett, National Institute for
Early Education Research (www.nieer.org)
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Abecedarian Outcomes at 21
SOURCE W. Steve Barnett, National Institute for
Early Education Research (www.nieer.org)
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CPC Outcomes at School Exit
SOURCE W. Steve Barnett, National Institute for
Early Education Research (www.nieer.org)
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CPC Impact on Child Abuse and Neglect
10.5
5.0
3.6
Source A.J.Reynolds and D. Robertson,
School-based Early Intervention and Later Child
Maltreatment in the Chicago Longitunidal Study,
Child Development, January/February 2003, Volume
74, Number 1, pgs. 3-26.
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Economic Benefits of Preschool
Cost Benefit Perry Preschool
12,000 108,000 Abecedarian 33,000
123,000 Child Parent Center 7,000 48,000
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Economic Return from Perry
SOURCE W. Steve Barnett, National Institute for
Early Education Research (www.nieer.org)
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• IV. What are our challenges moving forward?

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Cost of Preschool Education

• 4 million children in each age cohort
• 1 million poor children each age cohort
• Cost per child 6,000-12,000 per year
• Cost of not serving 30-120,000 per child
• Current Federal spending 10 billion
• lt ½ of 1 of Federal Budget
• Cost to serve all 3 and 4 year olds
• 2-3 of Federal and State spending

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Whats the problem?

• High cost to families
• Lack of quality early education, even for middle
  class families
• Performance gap between the rich and everyone else

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Child Care Expenses as a Percentage of Income
Higher Income is over 200 of poverty, very low
income is under 200 of poverty.
SOURCE Giannarelli and Barsimantov, Child Care
Expenses of Americas Families, Urban Institute,
2000.
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What Does Poor Quality Look Like?

• Large student to teacher ratios (gt101)
• Total class size is greater than 20 children
• Children are often engaged in tasks alone and are
  expected to sit quietly for long periods of time.
• Children do not frequently interact or
  communicate with their peers or teachers.
• Classrooms are cramped and not well-equipped with
  age-appropriate learning materials for children.
• Teachers do not involve children in meaningful
  conversation and do not use open-ended
  questioning or encourage problem-solving.

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Most Child Care centers do not provide
developmentally appropriate care
A child care center which meets the definition of
developmentally appropriate care put forth by the
National Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC) would be expected to score in
the range of 5 or higher on the Early Childhood
Environment Rating Scale (ECERS).
SOURCE Cost, Quality, and Outcomes Study Team.
(1999). The Children of the Cost, Quality, and
Outcomes Study Go to School. Chapel Hill, NC
University of North Carolina, p.3.
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Quality is Lacking
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Child Care Workforce Earnings in Perspective
A Comparison of Mean Hourly Wages Between Child
Care Jobs
Based on Bureau of Labor Statistic Data 1999,
Compiled by the Center for the Child Care
Workforce The titles child care workers and
preschool teachers are job titles defined by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median weekly
earnings for family child care providers is
265.00 based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics
2000 Current Population Survey (CPS). The hourly
earnings of 4.82 reflect a 55 hour week, the
typical work week for US family child care
providers. As the sample size of family care
providers in the CPS is small, an increase from
year to year may reflect a change in the sample
and not an actual increase in earnings.
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Where They Rank Compensation For Early Childhood
Educators
SOURCE Quality Counts 2002 Building Blocks for
Success. Editorial Projects in Education, January
10, 2002, p. 42.
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High income families define participation goal
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An uneven start
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Public Opinion on Early Education

• Support for early education increases
  dramatically when tied to education
  and school readiness
• Any early education policy initiatives should
  benefit both low-income and middle-class
  families
• There is strong support for voluntary early
  education at age 3 and 4
• Policy solutions most supported by the public
  are

• Voluntary and universal
• Linked to education, but also providing life
  skills
• Delivered by the community and community
  organizations
• Supported, in some part, by state funding
• Providing parent education as a supplement

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The Public's PrioritiesFor Education Dollars
Early-childhood education, class-size reduction
and teacher training emerged as the poll
respondents' top priorities for spending in
education.
SOURCE "Accountability for All What Voters Want
From Education Candidates," April 2002.
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Total State Spending in State funded Pre-K
(1991-92 and 1998-99)
Source Seeds of Success, State Prekindergarten
Initatives 1998-1999, Karen Schulman, Helen
Blank, Danielle Ewen.
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Participation in State-funded Pre-K (1991-92 and
1998-99)
Source Seeds of Success, State Prekindergarten
Initatives 1998-1999, Karen Schulman, Helen
Blank, Danielle Ewen.
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Preschool Participation Growth 1988-2000
SOURCE Status of Preschool Policy on the
States, Helen Blank and Anne Mitchell, December
2001.
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State Early Childhood Policies
SOURCE Quality Counts 2002Building Blocks for
Success, Editorial Projects in Education, January
10, 2002, p.55.
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Whats happening now in the states?

• Uneven systems, funding and progress
• Diverse approaches to enacting universal early
  education
• Legislation (New York, Oklahoma)
• Litigation (New Jersey)
• Ballot measure (Florida)
• Fiscal crisis is impeding progress of the last
  decade

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The States Fiscal Crisis Severe and Protracted

• This is the worst fiscal crisis for the states
  that Ive ever seen, really, going back to the
  post World War II period. Richard P. Nathan,
  State University of New York
• Budget deficits are looming over state
  governments will likely reach 60 billion to 85
  billion in fiscal 2004, according to a report by
  the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in
  Washington. (Wall Street Journal, 1/2/03)

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What is happening on the federal level?

• Reauthorization of major federal legislation
• Child Care and Development Block Grant (2003)
• Head Start (2003)
• Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (2003)
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
  (2003)
• Higher Education Act (2003)

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Head Start reauthorization

• Opportunity to engage in a national discussion
  about prekindergarten quality
• Raises awareness about training and curriculum
• Sets the table for the broader debate on
  universal prekindergarten in 2004

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Recent Developments

• In the 2002 elections, Florida voters approved a
  referendum requiring the state to offer free,
  high quality preschool to all 4 year olds by
  2005.
• In August 2002, the Los Angeles Children and
  Family First Commission voted to spend 100
  million per year of tobacco tax revenues to offer
  free, high-quality preschool to all 3 and 4 year
  olds in the county.
• In December 2002, An Act Establishing Early
  Education for All 3, 4 and 5 year olds was
  introduced in the Massachusetts state legislature
  with the support of over 100 legislators.
• In August 2002, the Arkansas Education Board
  endorsed and sent to the legislature a plan to
  provide universal preschool to 4 year olds.

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Lack of attention

• Despite the importance of this issue, the media
  does not give adequate attention to it less
  than 1 of stories in three larger California
  newspapers focused on nursery school or day care,
  even though 5.5 of stories focused on education.
  (Berkeley Media Studies Group)