Financing Early Childhood Care and Education: A Critical Investment

Larry SchweinhartSouth Asian Regional Conference in

ECCENew Delhi

August 27, 2012

The HighScope Perry Preschool Study

• 123 children born in poverty at risk of school failure

• Randomly assigned to program or no program (with departures corrected)

• Program group got an interactive preschool child development program

• Only 5 percent of data from ages 3 to 40 missing

High Scope Perry Preschool Childhood Effects

Basic achievement

Committed to school

Ready for school

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

15%

38%

28%

49%

61%

67%

Program group

HighScope Perry Preschool Adult Effects

Arrested 5 or more times

Earned $20,000 or more

High school graduate

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

55%

40%

60%

36%

60%

77%

Program group

HighScope Perry Preschool Return on Investment

Costs

Benefits

Pro

gra

m

EarningsTaxes Crime &

Justice Sys-tem

16:1

Three studies have found strong long-term effects and return on investment HighScope Perry Preschool Study

through 40

Abecedarian Enhanced Child Care Study

through 30

Chicago Child-Parent Centers Study

through 28

These studies differed in time, place, and design.

Time – Perry program in the 1960s, ABC in the 1970s, and CPC in the 1980s.

Place – Perry and ABC in college towns, CPCs throughout Chicago.

Design – Perry and ABC were true experiments with a little over 100 children, CPCs used existing classes of 1,500 children.

At least two of these programs…

• Had state-certified teachers and developed and validated a curriculum.

• Served low-income 3 and 4 year olds with part-day programs and parent outreach – ABC served children birth to 5 full day full year.

• Engaged in regular assessment of program implementation and children’s development and the program leader was also the research leader.

At least two of the studies found…

Improved intellectual performance Improved school achievement in

adolescence Improved high school graduation rate Fewer special education placements Fewer grade retentions Fewer teen pregnancies Lower arrest rates

Two similar studies in this part of the world

• Turkish Early Enrichment Project in Istanbul

• Mauritius-Penn Child Health Study

Turkish Early Enrichment Project Follow-up at 25-27(Kagitcibasi et al, 2009)

• Children in disadvantaged areas of Istanbul

• Mother training and preschool education for 4- to 6-year-olds

• At 13-15, greater school success • At 25-27, greater educational attainment,

vocabulary, lower age of first employment, occupational status, computer and credit card ownership

Mauritius-Penn Child Health Study through 23(Raine et al., 2003)

• Middle-income, multi-ethnic democracy• Random assignment of children• Program of nutrition and high-quality

education• At 10, better social skills, more organized

thinking• At 17 and 23, more socially adjusted,

calmer, 52% less crime, especially by participants malnourished at 3

But other US studies find modest short-term effects

Head Start Impact Study – trivial effects Head Start FACES study and Five-State

Preschool Study – modest effects

Highly effective preschools have special ingredients.

Certified and/or well-supervised teachers A validated curriculum with evidence of its

effectiveness Systematic engagement of parents Feedback from regular assessment of

program implementation and children’s development

General finding, specific expressions

• General finding: High-quality early childhood education has long-term benefits and produce strong return on investment.

• Specific expressions: cognitive skills, social skills, high school graduation, employment, crime reduction.

“India ranks last overall”(Economist Intelligence Unit, 2012)

• “A combination of limited availability, the lowest overall quality, and relatively high costs.”

• “India faces the toughest social conditions: high rates of child malnutrition and child mortality combined with low rates of literacy and immunisation.”

• “All countries face difficult decisions regarding how to allocate scarce resources towards child development, but these are especially pressing in India.”

What does South Asia need?

Public or third-party funded preschool programs for the poorest children.

Quality standards Qualified teachers Validated curriculum Parent involvement Feedback from assessment