Early childhood education continues to be a high priority across the nation. Total public funding at all levels now exceeds $30 billion annually (Council of Economic Advisers, 2016), which amounts to a doubling of investment over the past two decades (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1999), while public-private sector initiatives, such as Pay for Success, have also helped expand access (Temple & Reynolds, 2015). Today, nearly half of all four-year-olds in the country participate in prekindergarten and Head Start (National Institute of Early Education Research, 2017), and more than 80% of kindergartners attend full-day programs (U.S. Department of Education, 2017), both of which represent large increases from previous decades.  

Yet much of this increasing emphasis does not take into account two unfortunate realities. First, the size of the achievement gap by family income is large and increasing in the U.S. and internationally (Belfield & Levin, 2007; Braveman & Gottleib, 2014; Piketty, 2014). In the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress, 20% of U.S. 4th graders from low-income families were proficient readers compared to 52% of students from higher-income families (National Center for Education Statistics, 2016). This 32-point gap, which has increased by a third over the past decade, indicates that, to be effective, services must be proportionate to the need (Braveman & Gottleib, 2014; Takanishi, 2016). 

A one- or two-year preschool program, even if high-quality, can reduce this gap by only about a third (Barton & Coley, 2009; Reynolds, Hayakawa, et al., 2017). Early gaps in school readiness magnify over time and contribute to disparities in achievement proficiency and school completion. To realistically address these challenges, multiyear and multicomponent approaches that integrate services are needed. 

The second unfortunate reality is that despite the overall evidence of positive benefits for good-quality programs, impacts of early childhood programs across all cultural and social contexts vary substantially in magnitude, consistency, and duration. Too much variation in program quality is a major reason, as is the fact that later education is not aligned to early learning (Camilli et al., 2010; Reynolds & Temple, 2008; Zigler, Gilliam, & Jones, 2006). Even if large and sustained effects and greater alignment do occur, these programs are rarely scaled to entire populations.  

Given the size of achievement disparities, the relatively modest levels of achievement proficiency of students worldwide, and the limited reach of current programs, longer and more comprehensive strategies are needed. They also must have the capacity to scale since only a small fraction of programs are ever scaled to the population level (O’Connell, Boat, & Warner, 2009; Spoth et al., 2013). Multilevel programs in the first decade of life can redress these trends. 

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Providing better quality and more intensive public education for children from poor and at-risk backgrounds can significantly increase their chances at ending the cycle of poverty.

Research conducted on a long-term data set from some of Chicago’s most-challenged neighborhoods has found that four to six years of educational interventions in a child’s life ended up producing enormous benefits by the time the children made it into early adulthood.

The findings, conducted by psychologists Arthur Reynolds, Suh-Ruu Ou, Christina Mondi and Alison Giovanelli at the University of Minnesota, were published in the journal “American Psychologist.”

Find the Market Watch article reviewing the findings of this research here and the full publications can be found here. 

Data show that only half of all children in the United States are ready for school when they enter kindergarten, and that learning gains from early childhood programs are often lost as children get older. A new book co-edited by Judy Temple, professor at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and co-director of the Human Capital Research Collaborative, explores the features of successful early education programs and the ways to sustain their benefits long-term.

Listen to the full interview with Dr. Judy Temple here. 

Although substantial investments in early childhood intervention have continued, whether gains are sustained past kindergarten for routinely implemented programs is a critical research need. HCRC researchers performed a re-analysis of data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study to investigate the effects of program duration from preschool to 3rd grade on school outcomes and whether the effects differ by gender. 

Findings indicate that relative to the preschool plus kindergarten (P-K) group, participation from preschool through third grade (P-3) is significantly associated with better academic functioning at both 3rd and 8th grades, better classroom adjustment at 3rd grade, lower rates of retention and school mobility, and few years of special education. Relative to the preschool through second grade (P-2) group, the P-3 group has significantly higher academic functioning in third grade. Results suggest that the P-3 dosage is associated with larger effects on academic functioning for girls and larger effects on social-emotional functioning for boys compare to the P-K dosage. Findings suggest that receiving up to third grade (P-3) of an early childhood education program have associated with persistent effects on developmental outcomes compared to the dosages of P-K. Multi-year programs have the potential to sustain early childhood gains and promote healthy development via improving academic functioning and school experiences.

The full publication can be found here. 

HCRC researchers 

Food is an integral part of survival. What happens when there is not enough food for
children? How does that affect their development, specifically their learning? Dr. Matthew Kim
discusses research on food security and its effect on children and education.

Matthew Kim, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Economics, University of Saint Thomas

Does Early Food Insecurity Impede the Education Access Needed to Become Food Secure?

The increasing prevalence of childhood and adult obesity has led to a high priority on the identification of innovative approaches to prevention. Given that the prevalence of adult obesity has doubled over the past 3 decades and currently affects 40% of U. S. adults, comprehensive and multi-level efforts beginning in early childhood are increasing recommended as the one of the most impactful and cost-effective.  However, few if any routinely implemented programs have demonstrated they lead to sustained reductions in childhood obesity, let alone into adulthood. In this presentation, the impact of the Child-Parent Center (CPC) preschool education program on Body Mass Index (BMI) and obesity in early midlife is investigated for the first time. CPC is a school-based, multi-component early childhood intervention designed to improve school success and long-term health and well-being. It is currently undergoing expansion as a school reform model. Because it has been found to have enduring effects on school achievement, educational attainment, and health behaviors, it was hypothesized that program participation would be associated with lower adult BMI scores and reductions in obesity prevalence.

Using data from over 1,000 participants up to age 37 from the Chicago Longitudinal Study—one of the largest and longest-running prospective investigations of the impact of early childhood experience—results indicated that CPC preschool participation was associated with significantly lower BMI scores in midlife, especially for women and participants from the highest poverty neighborhoods. Reductions in obesity (BMI scores of 30 and above) were exclusive to female CPC graduates. Evidence on mediation was limited, with educational attainment, socio-emotional adjustment in elementary school, and high school quality being the strongest predictors and contributors to mediation. Findings will inform the design, implementation, and scalability of effective early childhood programs and practices for promoting healthy development.

Find the full presentation here. 

Out-of-school activities have provided many multi-faceted benefits to children and their development.  Children from middle-income families have greater participation in out-of-school enrichment activities than do children from lower-income families.   Douglas Hartman and Teresa T. Swartz discuss research done by KIDS throughout the metropolitan area on the relation between social inequality and youth activities.

Douglas Hartmann, Ph.D. - Professor, Department of Sociology

Teresa T. Swartz, Ph.D. - Associate Professor, Department of Sociology

Kids' Involvement and Diversity Study (KIDS)

Quality in early childhood programs has been a longstanding priority in policy and practice. Identifying the contribution of specific elements of high quality or effective learning experiences (ELE) is critical in scaling effective programs to population levels. This Brief summarizes preschool findings for five ELEs in the Midwest Child-Parent Center (CPC) Expansion Project: (1) full-day preschool, (2) small classes (17 or fewer children), (3) balance of teacher-directed and child-initiated instruction, (4) a high percentage of instructional time in core domains, and (5) an engaging classroom environment. Midwest CPC is a scale-up of the CPC program established in Chicago. The program has demonstrated sustained effects on well-being from school readiness to adult educational and socioeconomic success. Based on 2012-2013 implementation and school data for over 2,000 preschool students in Chicago and Saint Paul Public School Districts, 80% of children experienced 3 or more ELE elements. This was exclusive of B.A. certified/licensed teachers (which all children had). Given that full-day preschool was limited to 25% of Chicago children and was not available in Saint Paul, the prevalence of ELE is high. Evidence was strong in Chicago that preschool learning gains increased as the number of ELEs increased. In analyses that included fall baseline performance, family and child characteristics, full-day preschool and small classes were the largest and most consistent predictors of gains during the year in literacy, math, and socio-emotional learning. Findings indicate that structural program elements are important contributors to learning gains and positively influence the instructional context necessary for effective preschool experiences.

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Strengthening early education means doing what works for all children. This is the vision of the Minnesota Early Learning Council and is directly supported in the World’s Best Work Force statute. The unifying goal is that all children will be ready for school at kindergarten entry.

The best available evidence indicates that only half of all Minnesota children entering kindergarten are fully ready in literacy, math, and socio-emotional skills. Since the vast majority of young learners are from middle-income families, large increases are needed across the income spectrum to meet the universal readiness goal in any realistic time frame. Only a universal system of access can accomplish this. The targeted approaches advocated by Close Gaps by Five, Think Small, and others address only part of the need.

Increasing readiness for all is an accelerating national trend. In a recent national and bipartisan poll of voters, only 18 percent said they have high-quality and affordable programs in their local community, and 85 percent favored increased public support to middle- and low-income families to address these problems. Since nearly four in five 4-year-olds are in some form of out-of-home education and care, the situation is most pressing. All children, regardless of income and ZIP code, deserve access to early education that is highly effective and affordable.

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