Early Learning: Quality Matters Most
Today, close to 70 percent of children under the age of five are in some form of early care and education setting outside of the home on a regular basis. The quality of a child's relationships, environments, and experiences at home and in care settings has an enormous impact on the child's emotional well-being, cognitive abilities, and skill development.

High-quality programs are research based, explore all developmental domains, employ well-qualified teachers, have low child-teacher ratios, involve families and use age-appropriate curriculum. However, program quality varies widely: some programs are excellent and others are barely safe.

Washington has no common quality standards for early learning. Nationally, the most comprehensive measurement of program quality is accreditation, which reaches an appallingly low number of children—only six percent of total child care centers in Washington are accredited.

Many parents are frustrated that they have no way to identify or afford high-quality early learning programs. Despite the determination and commitment of child care providers, current financing mechanisms are not adequate to support quality in most instances. What's the bottom line? There is a dramatic shortage of the affordable, high-quality early learning to help prepare children for success in school and life.

Early Learning Benefits Our Economy
The economic benefits of early learning are clear and compelling. Cost-benefit analyses performed on quality early childhood programs show long-term returns of $4 to $8 for every $1 invested. The return on investment is significant for the individual (in increased earnings), the government (in decreased special education, remediation, and welfare costs), and society (in decreased crime and its related costs).

• Over the past 20 years, Illinois has been an innovator in expanding early learning to include home-based and birth-to-three programs. It has done so through a state-funded early childhood block grant with a set-aside for birth-to-three programs.
• In Oklahoma, free, high-quality pre-kindergarten is available to all four-year-old children. Districts that choose to provide pre-kindergarten are reimbursed for each child enrolled. In 2004, the program was funded at $72 million and served more than 30,000 children—65 percent of the children eligible.
• Smart Start is a public initiative that provides early education funding to all 100 counties in North Carolina. State funding for Smart Start is currently $19 million. The funds are used to improve the quality, accessibility, and affordability of child care, to provide access to health services, and to offer family support.
• New Jersey provides the highest level of funding for pre-kindergarten programs of any state in the country. The New Jersey Supreme Court has mandated access to quality pre-kindergarten programs for all children in districts where at least 40 percent of children qualify for reduced-cost or free school lunches. Currently, the Abbott Preschool Programs receive $5 million annually from the state, and non-Abbott students benefit from a separate preschool program that receives $30 million annually.

Research Supports Quality Early Learning
Numerous landmark research efforts demonstrate the long-term impact of high-quality early learning. Three of the most important studies are: (1) the High/Scope Perry Preschool project in Michigan, (2) the Abecedarian project in North Carolina, and (3) the Chicago Child-Parent Centers study in Illinois.

Other proven early learning models demonstrate that working directly with parents can dramatically improve outcomes for children. These and other studies have helped mobilize a nationwide movement in early learning.

The High/Scope Perry Preschool project is a study of 123 low-income African Americans who were assessed to be at high risk of school failure. Fifty-eight of the children were assigned to a group that received a high-quality preschool program at ages three and four; the other 65 children received no preschool program. Forty years later, the differences in education, crime, and income levels clearly demonstrate the positive impact of early intervention. The group that received high-quality early learning had higher IQs at age five, higher high school graduation rates, fewer arrests, and higher median annual incomes than those who received no preschool.

In the 47-year Abecedarian study, 57 infants from low-income families received high-quality child care from birth to age five. These participants were twice as likely to still be in school at age 21 as the control group. They were also, on average, two years older when their first child was born and nearly three times as likely to attend a four-year college.

"The economic benefits of early learning are clear and compelling. Cost-benefit analyses performed on quality early childhood programs show long-term returns of $4 to $8 for every $1 invested. The return on investment is significant for the individual (in increased earnings), the government (in decreased special education, remediation, and welfare costs), and society (in decreased crime and its related costs)."