ECON 101: Investing in Early Education

Did you know that economically investing in early childhood education is one of the best investments you can make?

A recently published paper by the Pritzker Initiative and the Bridgespan Group, “smart investments in early childhood produce social benefits, cost savings, and economic returns for children, families, and society.”

The team, led by J.B. Pritzker, spent eighteen months researching the current state of early childhood education access and policy to evaluate its current state. Through their research, they identified many ways in which the private and public sectors can work together to vastly improve the way early childhood education is approached in the United States.

Because nearly all public spending is focused on children after they enter Kindergarten, there is a huge need for funding for children from birth to age five.

“The United States ranks 31st in a group of 32 developed nations in the percentage of public education dollars allocated to early childhood,” the study found.

“Given the fluidity of where children spend their time before age five, it is important to invest in programs that help improve the quality of adult-child interactions across all settings,” the researchers say. “There is value in building formal systems that give parents high-quality child-care and education options for all ages. In addition, parents and FFN (family, friend, and neighbor) caregivers will continue to play a major role in individual children’s development and should also receive evidence-based voluntary supports.”

From a purely economic standpoint, investing in early childhood education programs has a huge monetary and social return.

“Nobel Laureate Economist James Heckman has shown that investment in high-quality early childhood programs for at-risk children from birth to age five delivers a 7–10 percent return on investment through better education, health, social and economic outcomes, increased productivity, and the reduced need for social spending.”

And this return increases when funding reaches the brains of disadvantaged children, who are already facing higher academic and social obstacles when entering Kindergarten in comparison with their more advantaged classmates.

“Investing in high-quality early childhood programs for disadvantaged children delivers a higher return on investment than social programs or education aimed at any other stage of life.”

Making these programs and educational models available to all children, regardless of their background, is critical for education equity and giving all of our kids the best chance for future success. (It’s also a big reason why we’re partnering with the Oakland-based Literacy Lab to provide Starlings for children and families who might otherwise be unable to afford one.)

The research overwhelmingly shows that all children benefit from increased engagement and educational opportunity, the earlier the better.

“Ninety percent of physical brain development occurs in the first three years of life, when a baby forms 700 new neural connections per second,” they say. “This building process is dramatically influenced by life experiences. In particular, the quality of adult/child interaction strongly affects brain development and the cognitive and social-emotional skills that shape life outcomes.”

This piece was originally posted at VersaMe.com. VersaMe created the Starling the world’s first wearable engagement tracker that helps encourage and reinforce positive parenting behaviors.