On May 14, 2010 The Washington Post reported new results from the largest, most authoritative assessment of child rearing in the United States illustrating that low-quality care in the first few years of a child's life can have a small but long-lasting impact on learning and behavior.
This federally funded study has tracked more than 1,300 children since 1991, finding that obedience and academic problems among children who received low-quality child care in their first 4 1/2 years of life persisted through age 15, suggesting the potential for lifelong difficulties.
Experts praised the findings, saying they "underscore the urgent need for local, state and federal governments, employers and others to improve access to high-quality child care."
This study lends further credibility to the work that CFNC accomplishes, led by the motto "education is not a luxury, it is a necessity." We believe that if you care about preventing crime, ending poverty, or closing the achievement gap, then you should care about providing early childhood education for children living in poverty.
Jul 15, 2010
In the news: Study finds that effects of low-quality child care last into adolescence
Oct 22, 2009
Sep 30, 2009
Preschool A Matter of National Security
On September 1, 2009, Mission Readiness - a bipartisan, nonprofit, national security organization of more than 80 retired generals and admirals - released a report at the Virginia State Capitol that concludes: "Our national security in the year 2030 is absolutely dependent upon what is going on in pre-kindergarten today."
The report begins with a startling statistic: "75 percent of Americans aged 17 to 24 are ineligible to serve our military." The top three reasons for this - inadequate education, criminality, and weight problems - "are serious and - if left unaddressed - will adversely affect the strength of our military."
The report goes on to highlight the 40 plus years of research that demonstrate that quality early education increases graduation rates and cuts crime, successfully addressing two of the three crucial problems that threaten our national security. For example, did you know that research studies have found that:
*Quality early education increases graduation rates by as much as 44 perecent;
*By the age of 18, inner-city children left out of preschool programs were 70 percent more likely than children with preschool to be arrested for a violent crime;
*Individual children who grow up to drop out of school, abuse drugs, and become career criminals cost society, on average, over 2.5 million dollars each;
*Because the various costs to society incurred by some of the at-risk kids can be so high, research shows that the benefits of investing in high-quality early childhood education for at-risk kids far outweighs the costs. One cost benefit study found that the net savings from investing in early education was $244,811 per child.
READ THE FULL REPORT and find out about the next steps for Virginia.
