Investment in prekindergarten is investment in future
Far too many children in Nevada show up on the first day of kindergarten already behind their peers. Many of them never catch up.
In the 2011-12 academic year, only 61 percent of third-grade students, and only 49 percent of eighth-grade students, met or exceeded state standards for reading. This has devastating consequences for the children, as well as our nation as a whole. According to Mission: Readiness, a nonpartisan national security organization of senior retired military leaders calling for smart investments in America’s children, “75 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds in the U.S. cannot serve in the military, primarily because they are too poorly educated, physically unfit, or have a criminal record. Investing early in the upcoming generation is critical to securing our nation’s future.”
Fortunately, it’s clear what we need to do to: invest in high-quality early care and education in the years before kindergarten. And that’s exactly what’s being planned through current efforts at both the state and federal level.
In Nevada, Gov. Brian Sandoval took the first steps toward ensuring that our state’s most vulnerable children have the resources they need for school readiness by proposing a
$20 million budget to expand full-day kindergarten in at-risk schools. And although our state did not receive the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant, our state officials have used the reviews and feedback from that competition to improve our state’s infrastructure to support a comprehensive early childhood system. In our current legislative session, Assembly Bill 79 and Assembly Bill 109, which passed both houses, are examples of our state’s efforts to improve the quality of early childhood education in Nevada.
At the federal level, President Barack Obama proposes to expand access to high-quality prekindergarten to all 4-year-olds, starting with children from low- and moderate-income families. The proposal would also increase the availability of early learning opportunities for infants and toddlers through partnerships between Early Head Start and child care that meet high standards. It would also expand voluntary home visiting programs that offer support and resources to vulnerable families with young children.
This plan builds on the long-standing role states have played in providing prekindergarten. For decades, under both Republican and Democratic governors, states have made substantial investments in prekindergarten. In 2012, 40 states, including Nevada, funded prekindergarten programs, but they served only a fraction of 4-year-olds and even fewer 3-year-olds. State prekindergarten funding and enrollment have stalled or declined in recent years, and many states fail to set adequate quality standards for their prekindergarten programs.
Under the national program, the federal government would partner with states, giving them incentives to extend prekindergarten programs to more children and strengthen the quality of these programs. In Nevada, only 3 percent of 4-year-olds and only 1 percent of 3-year-olds are enrolled in the state prekindergarten program. This program will allow us to strengthen and expand our current pre-kindergarten program, so that more children can attend and the benefits to our community can be even greater.
Prekindergarten is one of the best investments our country, and our state, can make. Research demonstrates the benefits of high-quality prekindergarten greatly exceed the costs. Numerous studies of small- and large-scale programs show that children who participate are likelier to perform well on tests in elementary and secondary school, graduate from high school and have secure employment as adults.
By setting children on a clear path toward success in school and life, early education benefits these children while bolstering our entire nation’s economy by building a robust workforce for the future. High-quality early care and education also enable parents to work more productively, knowing that their children are in safe and nurturing environments. The Children’s Advocacy Alliance will hold a news conference today in Las Vegas at the Family to Family Connection Office, 4775 W. Teco Ave., Suite 115, to discuss the next steps for improving early childhood education in Nevada
An investment in early education is crucial for our children, our families and our nation. It’s time to invest in our children from the start and support both state and federal efforts to ensure that our kids enter school ready to learn.
While these are important first steps, there is more that needs to be done. As the Children’s Advocacy Alliance and other child advocates at the local, state and national levels will be discussing in events over the next few weeks and beyond, we need to do more to educate our community about the importance of early childhood education — not just for our kids, but for our communities, our state and our nation.
Denise Tanata Ashby is executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Alliance.
