Large-Scale Early Education Linked to Higher Living Standards and Crime Prevention 25 Years Later

ScienceDaily (June 10, 2011)

— High-quality early education has a strong, positive impact well into adulthood, according to research led by Arthur Reynolds, co-director of the Human Capital Research Collaborative and professor of child development, and Judy Temple, a professor in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. The study is the longest follow-up ever of an established large-scale early childhood program



In the study published June 9 in the journal Science, Reynolds and Temple (with co-authors Suh-Ruu Ou, Irma Arteaga, and Barry White) report on more than 1,400 individuals whose well-being has been tracked for as much as 25 years. Those who had participated in an early childhood program beginning at age 3 showed higher levels of educational attainment, socioeconomic status, job skills, and health insurance coverage as well as lower rates of substance abuse, felony arrest, and incarceration than those who received the usual early childhood services.


The research focused on participants in the Child-Parent Center Education Program (CPCEP), a publicly funded early childhood development program that begins in preschool and provides up to six years of service in the Chicago public schools. Through the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), Reynolds and colleagues have studied the educational and social development of a same-age cohort of low-income, minority children (93 percent African American) who participated in this program. The CLS is one of the most extensive and comprehensive studies ever undertaken of young children's learning. Reynolds and colleagues have reported on the Chicago individuals starting in preschool, then annually through the school-age years, and periodically through early adulthood.



http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110609141556.htm

Good to see a long term study like this at a time when conservatives want to cut, cut, cut, kill, kill, kill.

I was a kindergarten teacher in Harlem in 1984 at a Head Start school. There wasn't enough time in the day to tell the kids about a healthy diet, how to count, social justice, introduction to a variety of cultures, universal sign language, computers (yes, computers), African dancing, rules inside the classroom and out on the street, respect for other people, etiquette, how to resolve disputes, etc. I hope that all my kids have succeeded in 27 years. They must be 32-33 years old by now.