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Early Childhood Care and Education:
An Investment That Works - Executive Summary

Introduction

Early Childhood Care and Education and the Research

Early Childhood Programs and the Economy

Early Care and Education and the Schools

Early Care and Education and Juvenile Justice

Early Care and Education and Public Health

Early Care and Education and Program Regulation

Early Care and Education and Welfare Reform

Early Care and Education and Family Support

Conclusion

Book Purchasing Information

Introduction

"How individuals function from the preschool years all the way through adolescence and even adulthood hinges, to a significant extent, on their experiences before the age of three."

Carnegie Corporation of New York--Starting Points, Meeting the Needs of Our Youngest Children

Significant economic and social changes over the past two decades have propelled child care and early childhood education to the top of state legislative agendas across the country. Trends include increased global economic competition, a shifting economic base, changing demographics and an influx of mothers into the workforce. In addition, an increasing amount of research links early learning experiences with later school achievement, adult productivity and the foundations of a sound future economy. As the United States moves into the 21st century, the demand for competent workers is expected to increase significantly as the actual number of younger workers decreases. Research shows that early childhood education is critical to the nation's future economic position because it provides members of the next generation of workers with a solid foundation of skills, competencies, attitudes and behaviors that will ensure their success in a more technology-based and competitive future economic environment.

As a result of the growing number of working mothers and the increased emphasis on early childhood education, more than half of young children now spend a significant amount of time in child care and prekindergarten programs. Consequently, child care and early childhood education have taken on greater significance across a broad range of policy areas that affect the nation's economic health and well-being.

The implications of state child care and early childhood policies are no longer confined to the traditional domains of human service or education committees. High-quality services for young children have direct implications for achieving a broad range of short- and long-term state policy goals including:

• Promoting the productivity of the current and future workforce;
• Preventing and reducing the incidence of social problems like juvenile violence and delinquency, teen pregnancy, welfare dependence and school failure;
• Preparing young children to succeed in school;
• Allowing welfare recipients to work or train to become self-sufficient;
• Facilitating the healthy development of young children; and
• Supporting families by assisting parents in their roles as teachers and nurturers of their children.

Recognizing the broad economic implications of child care and early childhood policies, more state legislatures are taking a leadership role in developing early childhood programs. Over the last decade, the number of pieces of early childhood legislation has steadily increased--from 28 in 1984 to 151 in the 1993 legislative sessions. And an increasing number of states are making large investments in programs for young children. In 1990, the states and the District of Columbia appropriated over $2 billion for early childhood programs. Perhaps the most exciting recent development in state child care and early childhood public policy has been initiatives to integrate state-level initiatives across a broad cross-section of social policy goals.

This book presents an in-depth look at how state legislatures are applying the lessons of early childhood research to a broad range of state legislative jurisdictions. It creates a framework for considering early care and education within the context of education, economic development, human services, public health, program regulation and juvenile justice legislative jurisdictions. Separate chapters present the latest relevant program research and outline the range of state legislation related to each of these policy areas. The publication also encourages further cross-jurisdictional consideration of early care and education policies across all these boundaries. This approach is discussed in more depth in the final chapter on family support initiatives.

Early Childhood Care and Education and the Research

The terms "early childhood care and education" denote a variety of services for children from birth through age five and programs for school-age children before and after school and during vacation. For younger children, services encompass child care, day care, nursery school, preschool, pre-kindergarten, and Head Start. For older children, they include after-school tutorial or recreation programs.

State early care and education programs have developed among three generally separate administrative structures: Head Start programs, prekindergarten and child care subsidies for children of low-income parents and those receiving public assistance. As a federal program, Head Start is administered locally, subject to regulation by the national bureau. Prekindergarten and other programs designed to promote school readiness are often administered through state education departments, and child care subsidy programs most frequently are administered by the state agency responsible for welfare programs. And an increasing number of states have initiated collaborative early childhood and parent education programs that vary in their administrative structures among education, health and human service agencies.

State policymakers can draw on a considerable amount of research data, mostly of two types. First, impact studies look at whether children who participate in early childhood programs are more successful on a variety of measures than their peers without program experience. The second type of research moved toward identifying program characteristics that produced the positive educational, social and behavioral outcomes for children cited in the impact studies.

The most well-known outcome study of both short- and long-term benefits of early childhood education is the High/Scope Perry Preschool Project. The most recent assessment, when the subjects were 27 years old, concludes that adults born in poverty who attended a high-quality active learning preschool program at ages three and four have fewer criminal arrests, higher earnings and property wealth and greater commitment to marriage than those who did not attend the good preschool. Over participants' lifetimes, the public is receiving an estimated $7.16 for every dollar invested. Educational achievements were significantly different between the two groups with 71 percent vs. 54 percent completing 12th grade or higher. Other significant long-term, outcome research reinforce the High/Scope Perry Preschool findings.

The provider characteristics associated with success are those that lead to a more individualized, attentive and nurturing relationship between the child and the caregiver: smaller group sizes, higher teacher/child ratios and higher staff wages result in quality care. Outcomes for children are also better when they attend programs that include a curriculum geared to young children, well prepared staff and where parents are involved in programming. These characteristics of quality have clear cost implications; however, unless the programs are high-quality, the public sector cost benefits cited in the outcome literature cannot be achieved.

Early Childhood Programs and the Economy

Quality early childhood care and education programs perform a dual function in the economy. In the short run, such services meet the needs of the existing workforce by assisting working parents in meeting their child care needs. Research suggests that employers benefit from lower absenteeism and turnover, higher employee morale and reduced recruitment costs by providing child care assistance. In the long term, quality early childhood programs are also critical in preparing children to enter the workplace of the future. Research demonstrates that quality early childhood education programs for at-risk children contribute to higher levels of success in school, greater achievement motivation, higher vocational aspirations and higher employment rates.

Such outcomes, coupled with a changing economic environment, are sparking considerable interest across the states in expanding quality early childhood care and education programs as an economic development strategy. Leading experts indicate that economic growth over the past 20 years has been the result of an influx of people entering the workforce, a trend that is not expected to continue. With fewer people entering the labor force, each worker's productivity is critical to achieving a competitive edge in an increasingly global and information-based economy. While educational achievement was less important in a largely manufacturing-based economy, the workplace of the future will demand more critical thinking and learning capacities. Moreover, without tapping the potential of more disadvantaged children, critical labor shortages are expected to stymie economic performance.

The Oregon and Washington legislatures have responded to the early childhood program research by linking service expansion with broader economic development initiatives. In Oregon, early childhood policy was integrated with a larger, economic development and state restructuring package. Washington's initiative focused more narrowly on initiating and expanding an early care and education program. The Oregon legislature enacted a unique comprehensive system of outcome measures--called benchmarks--to guide the direction of all state government. Within this large-scale, results-oriented strategy, high priority is given to early childhood education. In Washington, a comprehensive preschool program for at-risk four-year-olds was created and expanded primarily as a specific economic development strategy.

To support the current workforce with their child care needs, state legislatures have launched a number of initiatives. Among the most common are loan and grant programs to increase supply, corporate tax incentives to encourage private child care initiatives on the part of employers, personnel policy requirements for state workers and others to encourage "family-friendly" work environments, support of information and referral services to assist parents as child care consumers, and space allocation policies requiring or providing incentives for developers to plan for child care services. In Maine, the 1993 legislature garnered significant state business support for a comprehensive initiative to increase the supply of affordable quality child care services for low-income parents.

Early Care and Education and the Schools

Today, young people have a distinct and growing need to think creatively, adapt their learning, and perform academically. For future generations, success depends on the capacity to function in an increasingly competitive and technology-based global economy. America can no longer afford increasing numbers of children unprepared to learn, high dropout rates or graduates who enter the workforce without basic and adaptable skills. Research suggests that the foundation for academic success is laid well before a child enters the public schools. These data indicate that a child's early years are crucial to brain development and academic achievement. As a result, state policy attention is being directed to quality early childhood education services--programs that have repeatedly been shown to increase children's prospects for future school accomplishments. Among legislatures concerned about promoting school readiness, early childhood education is increasingly a preferred policy option. Kentucky and Ohio offer examples of states that have invested heavily in early care programs.

Besides prekindergarten initiatives, lawmakers also are addressing new ways of using the public schools to help students achieve their full academic potential. State lawmakers are exploring ways to use the public education system to meet family and social services needs through school-linked or -based social services programs.

Early Care and Education and Juvenile Justice

Juvenile justice issues are at the top of state legislative agendas across the country. In the last two legislative sessions, 48 states and the District of Columbia together passed at least 716 juvenile justice enactments. States increased their juvenile justice enactments by 44 percent between 1993 and 1994 alone. This legislative activity reflects primarily "get tough" approaches to address perceptions of rampant juvenile violence. Although overall juvenile arrests are relatively stable, arrests for violent offenses rose consistently during the past decade, especially for murder and aggravated assaults. Though youth violence is only part of general violent crime trends, state legislators and their constituents are legitimately concerned about the growing proportion of violent juvenile offenders. Barring more effective interventions, demographics suggest that juvenile violence is likely to increase, rather than subside.

Research has shown that punishment-oriented responses, resulting in longer incarceration or secure confinement, have been less effective in reducing juvenile delinquency and are very expensive. By contrast, research points to promising prevention efforts that are more cost-effective in the long-term. One such approach involves quality early childhood services, which can lead to fewer arrests and less violent behavior later in life. A cost-benefit analysis of the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program study, for example, found that quality preschool reduces the costs of crime by nearly $150,000 per program participant over a lifetime. Further, researchers find that certain prevention programs mitigate some of the primary and interrelated risk factors that have been associated with delinquency and crime. For example, studies show home-visiting programs for at-risk families with infants reduce a known risk factor: child abuse. Armed with these important research findings, some legislatures are turning to quality early childhood care and education intervention as a strategy to prevent juvenile violence and delinquency. Most recently, lawmakers in Tennessee, North Carolina and Washington have incorporated early childhood and other prevention programs as a central strategy in their violence prevention packages.

Early Care and Education and Public Health

Good health care, nutrition and environment influence human development from conception into adulthood. A considerable body of research attests to the cost-benefits of adequate primary care and preventive medicine--particularly during pregnancy and in children's early years. A variety of studies confirm the cost-benefits of immunization programs for young children and adequate prenatal care to prevent low birthweight.

Research also confirms that the influence of early environment on brain development is long-lasting. One study followed two groups of inner-city children; the first group was exposed, from infancy to good nutrition, toys and playmates; the second was raised in less stimulating settings. The study showed that the positive factors had a measurable effect on brain function at age 12 years, and the impact was even greater by age 15. This research suggests that over time the benefits of early intervention are cumulative and confirms the importance of both health and caregiving on child development.

Fifty-three percent of mothers now return to work within a year of a child's birth, and welfare policies increasingly call on mothers of young children to join the labor force as soon as possible. Thus, public policies around the quality of care and health care programming provided for infants and young children take on greater significance. Successful child development depends on the environment in which a child spends his or her time, and for increasing numbers of infants and toddlers, this place is a child care setting for much of the day.

States are beginning to address health components of child care programs in a variety of ways. To date, the bulk of activity involves interagency agreements to coordinate public health services with the early care and education infrastructure. Most often, linkages are established among Medicaid, state public health programs, Maternal and Child Health Services, the Women, Infants and Children's Nutrition Program, and Head Start or other child care programs to coordinate prenatal, postnatal, well-baby care, child health screening, nutrition and parent education programs.

In some states, legislatures have linked health and early care needs by including health requirements in mandates for state-funded preschool programs. In Ohio and Oregon, state program requirements resemble those of federal Head Start services in terms of their comprehensive health components. In at least a dozen other states, legislation requires certain early care and education providers to ensure that children are immunized. Although state legislatures are just beginning to address the linkages between health and child care services, such efforts are likely to expand with the increasing recognition of the importance of adequate health care as a critical determinant of a child's development.

Early Care and Education and Program Regulation

Studies show that the quality of early childhood care and education is inadequate in many cases. This is troubling, because quality is the key determinant in whether the experience will provide positive outcomes for children. Research informs us that caregiving relationships in child care settings affect children's social development, language development and cognitive skills. When there are too many children in a group or too few child care workers per child, learning and classroom involvement suffer. One way state legislatures advance higher quality services is by developing and enforcing regulations, such as improving professional standards for providers or staff/child ratios. While conscious of overregulation, legislators have the pivotal role in program oversight and are recognizing the connection between state regulatory environments and outcomes for children. Other regulatory areas that legislators are addressing are staff wages, screening providers for criminal and child abuse history, and smoking in child care facilities.

Early Care and Education and Welfare Reform

The number of America's poor children and families continues to rise, resulting in increased dependence on AFDC, the nation's largest income maintenance program for families. Public officials have called for reform of the welfare system, to move these families into training and employment with the eventual goal of self-sufficiency. Six years ago, Congress enacted the Family Support Act to provide training and education for welfare recipients and child care for participating or working families. To make work pay for welfare families and other low-income families, child care costs must be considered. State legislators recognize that providing affordable quality child care is essential for poor families who are making the transition into long-term employment.

Crafting an effective state welfare strategy, however, should encompass policy goals related to both parents and their children. Children in AFDC families are at higher risk for academic failure and other negative outcomes that can be remediated by enriched early care and education programs. Some states are examining ways to provide services to AFDC families that not only enable parents to work or train but that simultaneously offer enriched quality programming to promote school readiness and other positive outcomes for poor children.

The federal government provides around $2 billion to the states for low-income child care each year. Federal AFDC child care dollars require state matching funds, while many states are experiencing fiscal strain. This requirement has led to competition for scarce child care resources between AFDC families and working poor families not on welfare. Various purposes and restrictions of federally subsidized child care funds have hindered successful welfare reform, so states have taken the lead in innovating better ways to deliver child care to poor families, often by securing a waiver of program requirements from the federal government. California, Illinois, Iowa and Utah are among states that have developed creative child care options as part of their welfare reform strategies.

Early Care and Education and Family Support

Families today face unprecedented challenges in raising their youngsters. Low earnings require many families to resort to multiple wage-earners, moonlighting and overtime, leaving them less time for their families. Real wages have declined disaproportionately for younger, less experienced workers and even more for less educated workers.

Growing numbers of young parents resort to extraordinary measures to make ends meet and arrange their child care. Concern about balancing work and family life is not confined to those with low incomes: fully half the population report that they have too little time for their families. And few workplaces offer "family-friendly" policies to help parents balance work and family responsibilities. Parents also are concerned about the quality of child care that they can afford, and indeed a recent study rated most care for infants and toddlers as barely adequate or inadequate.

In an attempt to respond more adequately to changing family needs, legislatures are experimenting with multigenerational family support and education programs. In contrast to traditional services that focus on crisis intervention and strict eligibility requirements, family support approaches build on family strengths by helping parents improve their capacity to be nurturing and to cope with day-to-day stresses. Programs often combine a specific emphasis on parent education and skill-building with better linkages to concrete services like early care and education or job training. Programs vary in setting, format and emphasis, but all share a focus on meeting family-defined needs flexibly.

Legislatures across the country have funded a variety of early intervention, parent education and other types of family support services. Many programs have shown considerable promise in achieving specific outcomes--assisting parents in their familial roles, reducing the incidence of child abuse and neglect, improving school readiness and improving maternal and child health. Among the most well-known initiatives are Hawaii's Healthy Start, Maryland's Friends of the Family, Missouri's Parents as Teachers and Kentucky's Family Resource and Youth Service Center. In North Carolina and West Virginia comprehensive family support initiatives are currently under way through partnerships between the executive and legislative branches of government. These initiatives are unique in their recognition of the role of early childhood services in broader family support reform movements.

Although many family support initiatives have shown great promise in achieving better outcomes for families, significant barriers exist to their application on a broad scale. Federal and state funding streams continue to favor crisis intervention, rather than prevention. State agencies and special interests also often resist change and even well-meaning experts disagree about the most appropriate reform vehicles. Legislative institutions are also part of the problem since in most of them no one committee considers all policies related to children and their families. Instead, particular aspects of family issues are relegated to a variety of jurisdictions that include economic development, labor, education, judiciary, regulation, human services and fiscal committees. Some legislatures have created new structures or processes in an attempt to handle family issues more holistically. Tennessee's Joint Select Committee on Children and Youth, for example, has been particularly effective in providing a vehicle for cross-jurisdictional consideration of family support policies.

Conclusion

This publication highlights recent legislative efforts to expand early care and education, promote the development of young children, and meet a wide variety of state policy goals. Among the expanded policy goals are economic development and education, juvenile violence prevention and welfare reform. In the future, such pioneering state initiatives to support children and their families will increasingly be viewed as complementary elements of a broad approach to state policy development that empowers families to provide the productive and self-sufficient citizens of today and tomorrow.

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