President Obama (White House photo)
Less than a month after Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced bold new investments in high-quality early education, President Barack Obama last night proposed “working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every child in America.” With governors in states around the country putting early education on their 2013 agendas, momentum is building to invest in the early learning years that research finds produce substantial returns for children and society alike.
Here’s what Obama said in his State of the Union address:
These initiatives in manufacturing, energy, infrastructure, housing — all these things will help entrepreneurs and small business owners expand and create new jobs. But none of it will matter unless we also equip our citizens with the skills and training to fill those jobs.
And that has to start at the earliest possible age. Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road. But today, fewer than three in ten 4-year-olds are enrolled in a high-quality preschool program. Most middle-class parents can’t afford a few hundred bucks a week for a private preschool. And for poor kids who need help the most, this lack of access to preschool education can shadow them for the rest of their lives. So tonight, I propose working with states to make high-quality preschool available to every single child in America. That’s something we should be able to do.
Every dollar we invest in high-quality early childhood education can save more than seven dollars later on — by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children, like Georgia or Oklahoma, studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own. We know this works. So let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. Let’s give our kids that chance.
The proposed new investments in high-quality early education that Governor Patrick’s proposed in his fiscal year 2014 budget request are now before the Legislature. Massachusetts readers, click here to urge your legislators to support the governor’s recommendation.
Eye on Early Education focuses on the twin goals of ensuring that Massachusetts children have access to high-quality early education and become proficient readers by the end of third grade.
This is important news. I worry, though, that the focus will be on “academics” despite what we have learned via the science of early childhood education and brain development. Today, In Early Childhood Education, Child Care, and CCR&R Professionals group, there was a posting about Child First, a home visiting program that has demonstrated positive results. I also wonder about the outcomes of the moderated discussion among Jack Shonkoff from Harvard’s Center for the Developing Child, Robert Block, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Roberto Rodriguez, White House Special Assistant to the President for Education Policy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2EVN-B–YI). The focus of the discussion was “The Toxic Stress of Early Childhood Adversity”. In light of the criticisms of Head Start for focusing too much on health and nutrition and not enough on academics, I am concerned that we may miss an opportunity to recognize the overriding importance of relationships and social-emotional development as the foundation for academics and readiness for formal learning that aligns with children’s cognitive development.