the importance of funding early childhood education
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Supporting pre-k and early childhood education in Texas is important to the future of the state. There isn’t a pre-k study outthere that hasn’t shown a directcorrelation between investment inhigh quality pre-k programs anddramatic improvements in economic development.TRANSCRIPT
Quality Public Pre-K: �Investing in Our �
Future Workforce�
Last year, in an effort to balance the state budget, the Texas legislature made unprecedented cuts to public education. As a result, funding for high quality full day pre-k programs decreased by $223 million. �
Pre-k programs have felt these drastic cuts in the form of increased
class size, fewer teacher aides, fewer inclusion and special ed staff,
and reduced instructional time. �
Cutting funding for high quality pre-k programs will impact future
economic development at a local level.�
There isn’t a pre-k study out there that hasn’t shown a direct correlation between investment in high quality pre-k programs and
dramatic improvements in �economic development. �
How Pre-K Programs Promote Economic Development: �
! Higher per capita earnings gained by increasing adult labor force in place of child participants�
! Former child participants stay in the same state or metro area as adults and contribute in a higher quality way to the local workforce than they did as children �
! Short-term benefits: increases in property values�
! Long-term benefits: stronger labor supply�
! Early childhood programs have the most rigorous evidence of large effects per dollar invested �
Source: Timothy J. Bartik, Senior Economist, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Presentation to National Business Leader Summit on Early Childhood Investment, Boston, Massachusetts.�
Other Impacts of Early Childhood Education Investments on Economic Productivity and
Decreased Cost to Government: �! fewer special education referrals and less grade repetition �
! higher rates of high school graduation �
! fewer behavioral problems and delinquency�
! higher employment earnings�
! less welfare dependency �
! less smoking, drug use, and depression �
! reduced schooling costs, social services costs, crime costs, and healthcare costs �
! less teen pregnancy and smoking �
Source: Barnett, W. S. (2002) Early childhood education. In A. Molnar (Ed.) School reform proposals: The research evidence (pp.1-26). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.
The Bush study at Texas A&M found that, for every dollar spent on quality full day pre-k, there’s a
350% return on investment.�
So, how is it a good idea to �cut their funding? �
Pre-k programs suffer from the misperception that what they provide amounts to little more than glorified
babysitting, and therefore they aren’t as important as other public
school programs.�
Perception?�
To the untrained eye, what happens in pre-k looks a lot like play. As
well it should, because �play is the work of a young child. �But the play is all intentional and
well-planned. �
Take the Lion Lane School in �Spring Branch ISD...�
According to Sharee Cantrell, the school’s director, Texas pre-k
programs have evolved over the past decade as assessment data showed
that children were capable of absorbing more information in a play-based environment than
previously thought.�
Pre-K programs vary. �But those, like Lion Lane, led by teachers with advanced degrees in early childhood education, base their instruction on each child’s developmental stage. Lessons are geared within a structured curriculum to
the next step for each child.�
Kids are never at desks filling out workbooks, but they are always learning.�
When Spring Branch ISD opened full day pre-k centers 11 years ago, they had two goals in mind: �
(1) to show kids that learning at school is fun; and �
(2) to focus on their social and emotional development. �
By the middle of the year, the kids had learned ALL of their letters and sounds without any direct instruction
-- just lots of exposure to good reading, writing, play and modeling. �
Kids absorbed the information in a natural setting. Now Spring Branch ISD has a 9-week curriculum for
each subject matter. And, because it’s a full-day program, students
have time to work on projects in the afternoon as an authentic
application of the reading and writing skills they’ve learned �
in the morning.�
“Kids are able to do a lot more than we give them credit for. It’s
amazing how quickly they can pick up on things if you let them.” �
Sharee Cantrell, �Director (Principal) of The Lion Lane School�