Research: The Link Between Academic Success and Quality Early Care and Education
Starting from birth and including families is most effective.
Poor children who participate in family support from birth experienced better outcomes and in formal preschool programs experienced better outcomes. [i]
The achievement gap starts before kindergarten.
The gap in the educational achievement of children based on their socioeconomic status begins long before school starts, and continues unless there are intentional interventions. Evidence from two studies shows:
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The significant lag in language arts and math skills that low income children have before they enter kindergarten (as much as 1-2 years) are still present in both second and third grades. [ii]
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The vocabulary gap persists at age 10, and is strongly associated with reading comprehension scores in third grade. [iii]
High quality early education helps narrow the gap.
Evidence shows that high-quality early education programs supporting the full range of children’s development show long-term positive effects on child well-being and later school success, particularly for low-income children and those most at risk of school failure. [iv]
[i] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, & Evaluation. “Preliminary Findings for the Early Head Start Prekindergarten Follow-up.” (2006).
[ii] Cannon, J., and Karoly, L.A. (2007). Who Is Ahead and Who Is Behind? Gaps in School Readiness and Student Achievement in the Early Grades for California’s Children. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.
[iii] Hart, B. and Risley, T. R. (2003, Spring). The Early Catastrophe: The 30 Million Work Gap by Age 3. American Educator. http://www.aft.org/pubsreports/american_educator/spring2003/catastrophe.html.
[iv] ] Takanishi and Bogard, “Effective Educational Programs for Young Children.”