early education – return on investment

Early Education – Return on Investment

Making Young Children the Top Economic Priority in Alabama



In Alabama, 63% of children from birth to age five have all

their parents in the work force.

So access to child care, preschool, Head Start, or PreK

is a necessary support for working families.



And, if the program is HIGH QUALITY, it is the best

investment in better schools,

improved outcomes, and more productive

future employees.



Over one-half the gap in school achievement is present

at school entry.

If a child is not reading on grade level in first grade, there is a 90% chance

he will not read on grade level by grade 4.



Children who attend high quality child care

have higher achievement in math and reading through adolescence

as well as higher earnings in adulthood.



What does this mean

for the business

community?



The highly touted annual real rate of return on the stock market that prevailed between 1871

and 1998 was

6.3%

By comparison, a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis determined that annual real rates of return on public investments in the Perry Preschool Project (high quality preschool) were

16%



0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Brain Growth Cumulative Public Investment

While 85% of a child’s brain development occurs by age three, less than 1% of public investments in children have occurred by that time

in Alabama (Early Learning Left Out).



Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program for 4-year olds

is one of (2) programs in the country to score a

perfect 10 in quality --

but, it is only funded at a level that allows us to serve 6.5% of our state’s 4-year olds.



For every $1 of state funding spent on eligible expenditures, Department of Human Resources

(DHR) draws down $2.10 in matching CCDF federal funds to support child care for working families.

In 2009 DHR is missing out on approximately $12M for the program; due to current economic

conditions, the state cannot provide the$5M in matching funds.



The Employers’ Child Care Alliance is a community initiative led by major

businesses and employers.

“I realized that the people I’m trying to hire today, the young people we’re giving literacy

tests to. . .they were in child care when I started in this business 15 years ago”.

-- Human Resources Director from Uniroyal/Michelin



Ask Alabama Poll Results, September 2009:

On the list of

“changes or improvements in jobs and employment”

90% of women and 80% of men

reported that child care was important to them.

early education – return on investment

Documents

economic priority

alabamaearly education

alabamamaking young

young people

current economic conditions

annual real rates of

alabama early learning

grade level