Mona, what you describe may be one of the most important teaching tasks that early childhood educators face. There are many benefits from high-quality early education and child care programs, and the economic reasons are only part of the picture. Although your question is about the “economic value” of early education, I feel I should also comment on the many “non-economic values” also at stake. First, investment in high-quality early education is valuable from a social justice perspective. Many of our young children start their formal schooling far behind their peers from more affluent backgrounds. These children also deserve a shot at our Great American Dream. Our society is based on the promise that every person can have a decent chance to succeed in life. Education is the best vehicle of that hope, and early education holds the greatest promise for all of our children to make the most of their later educational opportunities. Second, investment in high-quality early education is valuable from a citizenship-building perspective. One of the primary roles of education is to foster a strong citizenry. Many studies of the effectiveness of high-quality early education have shown the benefits in terms of improved citizenship skills. Third, investment in high-quality early education is valuable from an altruistic perspective. Do we really need research to prove to us that it is a good idea to feed hungry children, care for the health and wellbeing of medically-vulnerable children, and provide socially enriching and cognitively stimulating environments to children who would be less likely to receive this elsewhere? As a researcher, I certainly value research. But I also believe that there are certain things that we should value and do simply because they are the right thing to do – period.

To get back to your question about “economic value,” there are at least three ways to think about this. First, there are clear economic values for the children who attend. From many studies of model programs, such as the Perry Preschool and Abecedarian Projects, as well as broader programs such as the Chicago Child-Parent Centers, we know that every dollar invested in early education yields back many dollars in societal savings from outcomes such as reduced grade retention and special education placement; increased income and property taxes paid as adults; decreased reliance on public assistance; and decreased costs associated with crime, adjudication and incarceration. These are discussed in the first chapter of this book, a chapter written by Nobel Laureate Economist, James Heckman, as well as several other chapters. Second, there are clear economic values for the working parents of children who attend, as well as for their employers – both large and small businesses. Early education, when offering enough hours of service, plays an important role in providing safe, affordable, and available child care for working families. Child care was seen early as an important ingredient of welfare to work reform. Child care makes employment possible and profitable for millions of working families, and the benefits are felt by employers who report fewer worker absences. Third, there are clear economic values for the many people who work in the larger early care and education enterprise. These include teachers, assistant teachers, directors, consultants, social workers, nurses, speech-language therapists, teacher preparation faculty, cooks, administrative assistants, bus drivers, and many others. These people earn a very modest (too modest) living while performing a massive public good. And they likely spend their wages locally, keeping local businesses thriving and paying sales, income and property taxes. Sadly, preschool teachers and child care professionals are not even eligible for the federal tax break for K-12 teachers! It is this “third economic benefit” of early education that is often forgotten – but it is a huge one.

So, there you have it – three economic agreements, plus three non-economic ones. The first economic argument is a long-tem argument, built on the fact that intervening early is more successful and less costly than intervening later. The other two economic arguments are immediate. Depending on with whom you are discussing this, you might wish to lead with the arguments that will resonate most with your listener. With this many arguments, there should be at least a few for everyone. I am glad that these children and families have you arguing in their corner.

Rich, I am so happy to hear about your concern in this area and that you have been looking into partnering opportunities with communities, schools, and families to extend the learning and developmental supports into the summer months. The level of caring and creativity of folks in the early education enterprise never ceases to amaze me! Ed Zigler, Stephanie Jones and I argued in our 2006 book, A Vision for Universal Preschool Education, that early education programs should be year-round – in part because of the school readiness benefits to children and in part because of the need for reliable child care through the summer months. Unfortunately, our funding structures often do not allow this. While we work toward year-round services, I wonder whether some innovative early childhood educators might develop resources specifically targeted to families that provide them with the tools they need to extend their children’s successes through the critical summer months. Perhaps these resources could include simple activities that parents can do with children that dovetail the types of activities that happen in high-quality early education programs. Perhaps, programs like Parents as Teachers might interest you as a summer add-on. I also wonder what role local libraries might play. A big part of my own “summer worry,” however, is nutritional. Many of the vulnerable and at-risk learners that you mention may receive nutritionally valuable meals during their 9-month Head Start, prekindergarten, or child care programs, only to struggle nutritionally during the summer. Community-based programs that provide nutritious meals to low-income children might also be an important partner in the coalition for good that you are creating. This is extremely important work that you are doing, Rich. I hope you find some opportunities to share what you do with the rest of the early education community. If you do, please look for me in the front row of the audience!

Emily, I can’t agree with your comments more. You raise a very important point about the nature of our work. In a study of the highly-effective Chicago Child-Parent Centers, Arthur Reynolds found that the program’s effects were largely on both helping children to gain the skills they need for school readiness AND encouraging increased family involvement in the children’s education. Both mattered a lot, and both were important pathways for later success in school. I believe that one important take-home message from this study is that the work of early education consists of both educating the child and supporting her or his family to better understand their essential role in the educational process. Of course, this is best accomplished through an honest two-way dialogue with parents about what that educational process looks like. Indeed, when teachers appropriately and expertly support children’s exploratory play and social interactions with other children, a massive amount of learning and development is talking place – cognitively, linguistically, emotionally, and socially. From your question, I am sure that you have many wonderful examples of how this happens in your program. It used to be more commonplace for early education and child care programs to arrange a home visit prior to a child’s enrollment. Unfortunately, these initial home visits seem to be rare these days. Have you considered hosting an orientation at your program where parents and other family members will meet the teachers and support staff who will be playing a major role in their children’s lives and where the teaching approach of the program will be explained? This would present a perfect opportunity to explain to parents – up front – your program’s philosophy about how learning takes place through exploration. What a wonderful opportunity to sprinkle in some examples of how teachers support children’s language skills through informal communication; how children explore textures and other physical properties of their world at the sand and water table; and how children develop planning and cooperation skills, as well as their visual-spatial skills, when building a bridge together using the blocks in the room! Planning such a presentation for a group parent orientation meeting would also provide a terrific opportunity for teachers to think together about how they actually do this important yet subtle work. It also should provide opportunities to think with parents about how they can extend the learning to the home environment. Early childhood teachers are both experts on early childhood and experts on teaching. We have a lot of teaching (and learning) to do, and not just with the children! Best wishes for an enjoyable teaching process.

Summer, as you well know, an extremely large number of our young children are cared for each day in family child care programs. To ignore the important role of these providers would be a terrible mistake. Family child care programs can provide a wonderfully warm setting for young children, offer a rich and stimulating environment for development, nurture young children’s social development through deep personal relationships with providers who are well known to their families, and provide stable and affordable care for working families. Although this is certainly true for many family child care programs, many others struggle, many close all too soon under the pressures of running a small business, and untold numbers operate well under the radar of public health licensure and may be unsafe environments. Very few are accredited. There are a precious few programs, such as All Our Kin (www.allourkin.org), which seeks to support family child care providers toward accreditation and sustainable business practices, while nurturing these providers on their own professional careers. Unfortunately, programs such All Our Kin are rare – largely because family child care providers have been an all but forgotten segment of our nation’s child care landscape. Children develop, learn and flourish within the context of the warm, nurturing, loving, and stimulating relationships that surround them, not because of the name over the door or the descriptive category in which the program might fit. We need to include as many high-quality programs as possible in a well-coordinated system of early care and education. But to do this, all programs, and the professionals who staff them, must be supported toward verifiable high levels of quality and should be part of a coordinated system that is well linked to the communities in which these children live and the schools to which these children will be attending. Thank you for the important work you do, every day.

Polly, an overly academic emphasis that ignores the social-emotional, creative, and motivational interests of our youngest and often most vulnerable learners is unfortunately becoming more the norm than the exception these days. Many school administrators worry about test scores, and all too many seem to be focusing their efforts on getting children ready to take tests as early as kindergarten or prekindergarten. I applaud efforts to “close the achievement gap,” and I am quite happy with our nation’s interest in making sure that all children can succeed in school. My concern, however, is the path many seem to be choosing toward these worthy goals. There was a study conducted a few years ago that found that kindergarten teachers ranked social, emotional and health issues (as well as parental involvement) well above cognitive and academic skills in terms of their importance to school readiness. Who better should know what it means to be “ready for school” than kindergarten teachers! Indeed, much school failure seems to be more related to children’s feelings about school itself as a place they enjoy being rather than how many letters or shapes they knew by a certain time. I am sure that many kindergarten teachers feel very much the way you do, Polly. I wonder what might happen, if more kindergarten teachers (and parents and grandparents) worked together to talk to state and local government officials and school administrators about the role of kindergarten in helping young children to become “ready for school,” not “already schooled.” It certainly would be hard to imagine a group with more credibility on the topic. By the way, thank you for volunteering in your granddaughter’s kindergarten class. I sure wish all of our kindergarten classes had a Polly or two.

Angela, thank you, sincerely, for your concern regarding what you have seen in this preschool. I, too, am concerned by what you describe. I choose to believe that most everyone involved in the care and education of our young children have their very best interests at heart. Unfortunately, many teachers and directors do not always seem to know how to handle challenging behaviors, and some resort to unproductive and even harmful ways in attempts to address their concerns. As you know, challenging behaviors can be very frustrating. When a child struggles with language and pre-academic skills, effective teachers respond positively by rewarding the child’s efforts, pointing out her or his successes, and at times guiding the child toward the skills she or he is struggling to learn. When children struggle with social-emotional and behavioral skills, in contrast, some teachers seem to respond only by pointing out the bad behaviors, ignoring the efforts toward positive behaviors, and rarely guiding the child to more appropriate behavioral skills. Why do we try to “teach” the language and cognitive skills that we value, but only attempt to “extinguish” the social, emotional, and behavioral responses that we do not value? Perhaps, try redirecting the teachers and director to focus on what the child is doing well, and encourage them to praise and reinforce the good behaviors that they notice. Perhaps, also ask these adults what their strategy is for actually teaching and modeling the classroom behaviors they would prefer to see. When the teachers or director identify the good in the child and how they plan to encourage and teach prosocial behaviors, please don’t forget to thank them and praise them for their efforts. All of us need positive supports in our lives – whether we are children or adults! I am wishing you well.