“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” -Mark 9:37 (NIV)
For children, the education they receive in their formative years will help lay the foundation for future academic and social success. However, many children at risk are growing up in families who are unable or unwilling to provide this early care. As a result, too many disadvantaged children start school already behind their classmates in early math and reading skills. They often lack the social skills needed to follow teachers’ directions and get along with their peers. These problems can create a pattern of failure that lasts a lifetime. High-quality early childhood education can give at-risk children the strong start they need in order to do well in school and become successful adults and parents themselves.
For example, a rigorous study found that among the children who participated in the Perry Preschool program:
- High school graduation rates were 44 percent higher by age 27;
- Incomes were 36 percent higher by age 40; and
- The girls who had been in the program were five times more likely to be married and living with their husbands by age 27.
For those not in the program:
- The men were 63 percent more likely to have had children they did not raise; and
- Youth were five times more likely to be arrested for a violent crime by age 27.[i]
Another rigorously studied early education program, Child-Parent Centers (CPC), has served over 100,000 children in Chicago. The children who participated in that program were almost a third more likely to graduate from high school, whereas similar children left out were 87 percent more likely to be in foster care due to abuse or neglect, and 24 percent more likely to be incarcerated by age 20 than the children participating in the program.[ii]
For more information on voluntary, high-quality early education in Tennessee, please see our state-specific report on the research page.
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[i] Schweinhart, L.J., Barnes, H.V., & Weikart, D.P. (1993). Significant benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool study through age 27. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press. Schweinhart, L.J., Montie, J., Xiang, Z., Barnett, W.S., Belfield, C.R., & Nores, M. (2005). Lifetime effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool study through age 40. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press. [ii] Reynolds, A. J., Temple, J. A., Robertson, D. L., & Mann, E. A. (2001). Long-term effects of an early childhood intervention on educational achievement and juvenile arrest. Journal of the American Medical Association, 285(12), 2339-2380; Reynolds, A. J. & Robertson, D. L. (2003). Preventing child abuse and neglect through school-based early intervention: An investigation of the Chicago Child-Parent Centers. Child Development, 74, 3-26.