Economists stress the payoff of early childhood education

By Mike Rose

Educators and child advocates have long argued that expanding the number of high-quality early childhood programs is the right and just thing to do if the nation is serious about giving all children access to true educational opportunity. More and more, these experts are being joined by leading economists who have examined the costs and benefits of early childhood education—and argue that it is an important step toward putting and keeping the nation on sound fiscal footing for decades to come.

One of the most recent entries in the economists’ argument is “Exceptional Returns: Economic, Fiscal and Social Benefits of Investment in Early Childhood Development.” The report, written by Washington College economics department chair Robert G. Lynch and released in October by the Economic Policy Institute, examines some of the longest-running early childhood development (ECD) initiatives and concludes that every dollar invested consistently generates a return of $3 or more to society.

“Even economists who are particularly skeptical about government programs make an exception for high-quality ECD programs,” Lynch notes. “Providing all

20 percent of the nation’s 3- and 4-year-old children who live in poverty with a high-quality ECD program would have a substantial payoff for governments and taxpayers in the future.

“As those children grow up, costs for remedial and special education, criminal justice and welfare benefits would decline. Once in the labor force, their incomes would be higher, along with the taxes they would pay back to society.”

“This report contributes to the overwhelming evidence that early childhood education programs can make a real difference—for children, families and our entire society,” says Marci Young, deputy director of the Center for the Child Care Workforce, a project of the AFT Educational Foundation. “The study’s emphasis on high quality, including the recruitment and retention of well-qualified staff, underscores the value of investing in children’s early years, especially those living in poverty, so they will be eager and ready to succeed in later school years and beyond.”

How big a gain are we talking about? Lynch estimates that if a program to cover 20 percent of disadvantaged 3- and 4-year-olds could be in place by 2006, the outlays for the program would be more than covered by the benefits they produce to taxpayers and society by 2017. If the commitment were sustained until 2050, the net budget savings would total $167 billion, or $61 billion in 2004 dollars.

Beyond green eyeshades

Certainly no less compelling than the economist’s argument are the firsthand benefits reported by teachers in programs both large and small.

One of the programs featured in Lynch’s study as an example of high-quality ECD: the Chicago Child-Parent Centers, which serve low-income children and families in the city. The program has been around since 1967 and today serves more than 5,000 children ages 3-5. Along with basic language and reading skills, the program emphasizes social development and health and nutrition services. Parents are also encouraged to get involved in classroom activities and adult education classes. The centers have been the focus of a long-term research project, the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), which finds that children at the centers have substantially higher test scores, greater parental involvement, lower grade retention, less need for special education and lower delinquency rates.

Beyond the dollars saved are the personal success stories ticked off by educators such as Sherron Jackson, the head teacher at the Daniel Webster-Lorraine Hansberry Child Parent Center in Chicago. A 16-year veteran at the center, Jackson is a former kindergarten teacher who entered early childhood education because she saw it was working for many of the kindergartners. “I could see the difference between the kids ‘off the street’ and the ones who had the benefit of the program.” For the children fortunate enough to participate in the centers, “language development is stronger, school routine is more familiar, attention span is longer and they’re academically ready to embrace the instruction you are giving.”

It’s the type of opportunity that the Chicago Teachers Union, in cooperation with other AFT affiliates in Illinois, wants even more children to enjoy, says CTU president and AFT vice president Marilyn Stewart, who notes the union’s backing for a statewide initiative to support and seek funds for preschool programs for all children in the state. The Chicago Centers “have a successful track record of working with preschool-age children and their parents and families over many years,” Stewart says. “Contributing to their success are our teacher-members who all hold early childhood certification along with their assistants who all have some college hours in their background. The CTU, along with our parent organization the AFT, knows that early childhood education makes a difference in a child’s future education.”

Similar successes can be found in other states and districts, including St. Tammany’s Parish in Louisiana. The school system has aggressively ramped up access to early childhood education over the past few years through a mix of state and federal grants. Today, the district offers 30 early childhood centers serving about 600 children ages 3-5. Along with building literacy skills for children, the centers also stress parent involvement and training, early identification and intervention for learning problems, and interagency help for families that need it.

Nicolle Bivona, who for eight years has taught early childhood education, says that some of the benefits are very real but not always apparent to outsiders. Introduction to school routine, for example. Students who are familiar with rules and procedures, sharing with classmates, and other realities of school life are simply better able to navigate the kindergarten environment, she says. It’s a leg up recognized by many kindergarten teachers who fight to get children who have had the benefit of early childhood education into their own classes, she adds.

“Educators in our district have long realized that the benefits of early childhood development can last a lifetime,” says Elsie Burkhalter, president of the St. Tammany Federation of Teachers and School Employees/AFT, and vice president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers. “That’s why we’ve supported not only the expansion of early childhood programs in our district but also joined our state affiliates to fight for Kindergarten-Plus legislation in the state Legislature. Economists are realizing what teachers have always known: Early childhood education works.”

When you add it all up—the introduction to class life, exposure to reading, better parent involvement, early intervention for speech and other problems—“the benefit is just phenomenal,” says Bivona, a former kindergarten teacher who remembers well the feeling of wrapping up the kindergarten year with many children who had been “baby-sat by ‘Barney’ for the entire year” before she got them.

“You think, ‘Wow, if I had just had that extra year, I know we could have jumped that hurdle.’”

It’s a lost opportunity that a growing number of economists believe is too dear for the nation and our children to pay.