Ajay Chaudry

N E W Y O R K U N I V E R S I T Y

S T E I N H A R D T S C H O O L F O R C U LT U R E , E D U C AT I O N,

A N D H U M A N D E V E L O P M E N T

E D U C AT I O N P O L I C Y B R E A K FA S T S E R I E S

F R I D AY, N O V E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4N E W Y O R K , N Y

Early Childhood Education and Closing the

Achievement Gap

2

Presentation Outline & Five Main Points

1. The Achievement Gap is Wide, It Begins Early and It Deprives Us All

2. High-quality early childhood education is a direct, effective, and necessary response to reduce achievement gaps and give all children a fair shot. 

3. There are pronounced gaps in access to early learning and preschool education and the quality of much early education contribute to growing gaps in school readiness.

4. Target Needs within a Goal of Universality

5. Address Access and Quality Gaps Together

3

The Educational Achievement Gap by income is Large & Growing

4

The Gap Begins Early

90/10 90/50 50/100

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

1.4

Income (90/10, 90/50, 50/10) School Readiness Gaps at Kindergarten Entry, first-time kindergartners

MathReading

Reardon & Portilla (2014, unpublished) tablulations from ECLS-K 2010

Acb

ieve

me

nt

Ga

p (

sta

nd

ard

de

via

tio

ns)

5

The Gap spans a wide socio-economic gradient

Source: Reardon (2011)

6

7

Much of the gap measured across primary schooling

are present at school-entry

8

High-Quality Early Education is a Basic Building Block for Children’s School Success and Reduces

the Gap

Average impact of 1 year of preschool at end of the 4 year old year is one-third of a year of additional learning (Yoshikawa et. al. 2013)

At-scale, high quality universal public preschool programs in Tulsa & Boston show even more substantial impacts on early learning (Gormley et. al. 2008; Weiland and Yoshikawa 2013)

Best known preschool programs (Perry Preschool, Chicago Parent-Child Centers, Abecedarian) studied over long-time show preschool has long-term benefits for participants and society. (Heckman; Karoly; Reynolds; Schweinhart)

Early education benefits to all children, with larger benefits

to more disadvantaged children (Magnuson et al., 2007)

9

Early Learning provides developmental equity when educational investments have greatest

benefit

Public investments in children are lowest in developmental and learning period when they matter most: before children enter universal publicly supported schooling (birth to age 4) (Aber and Chaudry, 2010; Heckman, et. al. 2010, 2014)

Age 0-2 Age 3-5 Age 6-11 Age 12-18

$4,138 $4,023 $3,922 $3,523

$1,277

$4,579

$10,719$10,140

Federal and State/Local Spending on Children in 2008, by age

Federal State

Source: Edelstein et. al. 2013

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Enrollment in Early Education, children under age five with employed mothers by income, selected

years

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

1997 2005 2011

Perc

ent

Year

Rates of center-based care

Middle- to Higher-Income

Moderate Income

Low-Income

Very Low-Income

Analysis of 1996, 2004, 2008 SIPP Panel Data

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Disparities in access to and use of early learning programs are large, especially for younger

children

Rates of center-based ECE for infants and toddlers, by income and age

4.8%7.0%

9.2%7.3%

11.5% 11.7%

7.0%

10.9%

14.8%

8.4%

18.1% 18.1%

15.3%

20.9%23.3%

18.4%

29.0%

32.8%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

Age 0 Age 1 Age 2

0-99

100-199

200-299

300-399

400-499

500+

Source: Chaudry & Wolf (2014, Unpublished) Analysis of 2004 & 2008 SIPP Data (Combined)

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Preschool Education is norm for families can afford it, widening gaps for children whose

families cannot

Age 3 Age 40%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

30%

56%

39%

61%

56%

79%

Rates of center-based care for 3 and 4 year olds

by income level and age, 2011

<200% FPL 200%-400% FPL >400% FPL

Tabulations from CPS 2011

<200% FPL 200%-400% FPL >400% FPL0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

8%

20%

56%34%

30%

11%

Children Ages 3 and 4 in Public and Private Preschool, by income, 2011

private preschool public preschool

Tabulations from CPS 2011

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Quality matters across Birth-to-Five Continuum

Overall quality across Pre-K, Head Start, Child Care, Infant-Toddler programs ranges from low to moderate with only a small share very poor or very high quality

Child outcomes are greater and more robust when quality is higher

Responsive teacher-child interactions and intentional activities to foster learning are quality ingredients

Stability, continuity, and “dosage” of early childhood services are important components of quality

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Challenges and Opportunities Moving Forward

Starting Early Learning Services EarlyTargeting Needs within a Goal of UniversalityAddressing Access and Quality Gaps TogetherEstablishing alignment/infrastructure across systems

(both public and private) Finding the Political Will and Public Financing for

Early Learning is Difficult, but Difficult is not Impossible, as NYC’s advances show…

And as the song says if you can make it work there…you can make it work anywhere… New York, New York!