Providing Quality Early Childhood Education

The expert testimony, research, scholarship, and lived experience collected by the Commission revealed the following:

• Countless studies have shown that the early years in a child’s life, when the brain develops the most, represent a critically important window of opportunity (Consortium for Longitudinal Studies, 1983).
• The groundwork for much of what the average person needs to succeed in life is established by about the time he or she enters kindergarten (Heckman,  2012). During these first years of life, the human brain develops rapidly, laying the foundation for future cognitive skills in the areas of reading, math, science, and academics more generally (Phillips & Shonkoff, 2000). During these years, children also form nascent social, emotional, gross-motor, and executive-function skills (Phillips & Shonkoff, 2000).
• Children who attend early-learning programs perform better in school and social life than those who receive no formal early education. (Karoly, Greenwood, Everingham, Hoube, Kilburn, Rydell, Sanders, and Chiesa, 1998; Barnett, 1995) They are less likely to repeat a grade, less likely to be placed in special education classes, and more likely to graduate from high school. (Karoly et al.; Barnett, 1995; Consortium for Longitudinal Studies, 1983).
• Children who participate in early childhood education are less likely to engage in criminal activity, be unemployed, visit the emergency room, or become pregnant as teens (Karoly et al., 1998).
• While every child benefits from early learning—formal or informal—research suggests that the benefits of early childhood education are particularly strong for kids from disadvantaged communities (HighScope, 2005; Reynolds, Temple, Robertson, & Mann, 2001).
• The Federal Reserve estimates that for every $1 invested in high-quality pre-kindergarten education, the community sees a $7-$16 rate of return through saved costs (e.g., on special education, incarceration, and social services) and enhanced revenues (e.g., higher income and property taxes) (Grunewald, & Rolnick, 2010).
• In Missouri, from 2011 to 2013, 64% of children living in households with income below 200% of the federal poverty limit (FPL) (around $44,700 for a family of four in 2011) were not enrolled in preschool, compared to 48% of children living in households with income at or above 200% of FPL (National Kids Count, 2015; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 2011).
• A study by the Women’s Foundation and the University of Missouri found that 27% of counties in the state have no accredited child care centers, including the top three counties with the highest number of children under the age of four per capita, two of which are also amongst the most impoverished counties in the state (Institute of Public Policy, 2015; US Census, 2010).

These findings prompted the Commission to draft a call to action for enhanced access to early education for all of Missouri’s children.

To that end, the Commission issues the call to action below.