Early Childhood Development

1. Early Childhood Development An Investment We Can’t Afford to Pass Up

2. What’s Covered in This Presentation • The economic case for action. • Developmental. • Performance. • Impacts on American competitiveness. • The good news. • We know what works. • Growing involvement by business leaders. • The bottom line.

3. American Competitiveness in Peril • By failing to address early childhood development issues, we are jeopardizing our own future. • Our economy – our way of life – cannot continue on the course we’ve come to expect without a skilled and healthy workforce. • We are already falling behind other countries. • We rank 26 out of 32 countries in PISA math scores. • We lag behind countries like Hungary, the Slovak Republic and the Russian Federation. • Canada has a $4 BILLION ECONOMIC ADVANTAGE over us just by effectively treating asthma to prevent attacks that can put children in emergency rooms and take adults out of work.

4. How America Stacks Up U.S. ranks 26 out of 32 countries on PISA 2006 Math Scores Annual societal costs of managing uncontrolled asthma attacks ≈$4 Billion • ≈$0 • SOURCE: Fertig, A. and Corso, P. (2008) The long term economic costs of asthma. Partnership for America’s Economic Success: Washington, DC.

5. There is Good News • Research shows that the earlier we make investments, the greater our return will be. • For instance, the rate of return for an investment in quality pre-kindergarten programs is substantially higher than the rate of return for a job training program later in life. • This has been demonstrated by sophisticated economic modeling, but it really just echoes something every business person experiences every day: • The least expensive problem to fix is the one you prevent in the first place.

6. The Good News The Earlier the Investment, The Greater the Return Programs targeted toward the earliest years Preschool programs Schooling Rate of return to investment in human capital Job training 4-5 Pre-school 0-3 School Post-School Age • SOURCE: Heckman, James J. Schools, skills and synapses. Economic Inquiry. July 2008.

7. The Economic Case for Action • Children who … • Grow up poor:1 • Complete 2 fewer years of school. • See lifetime earnings reduced by half. • Lack stable housing in their early years:2 • Are almost 20% less likely to finish high school. • Face hunger or issues of “food insecurity”:3 • Can cost four times as much to educate. • Addressing these and related issues head on – and early in life – will cost society less and help us achieve more than ignoring them will. • SOURCE: • 1Duncan, Greg J. et al. 2008. Economic costs of early childhood poverty: Raising young children out of poverty can substantially improve their odds of economic and life success: Washington, DC. • 2Roy, Joydeep. 2008. The hidden costs of the housing crisis: The long-term impact of housing affordability and quality on young children’s odds of success. Partnership for America’s Economic Success: Washington, DC. • 3Murphy, C. et al. 2008. Reading, writing and hungry: The consequences of food insecurity on children, and on our nation’s economic success. Partnership for America’s Economic Success: Washington, DC.

8. A Picture Worth 1,000 Words • Brain scans show that children who don’t learn don’t develop properly. • The brain is like any other muscle: It must be used to become – and stay – healthy. • Imagine a child who never left her stroller; her legs would never be able to carry her. The brain works the same way. • This clearly indicates that failing to invest in children today will surely lead to far greater costs down the road. Normal child Severely neglected child Images reproduced with permission by Harry Chugani, M.D., Wayne State Univ. School of Medicine,Chief, Pediatric Neurology, Director , PET Center, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Dept of Neurology. 

9. Kids Who Start Behind Stay Behind • The vast majority of kids who have trouble reading in first grade still have trouble reading in fourth grade. • Children subjected to “adverse childhood experiences” are more likely to develop problems later in life. • The more of these experiences a child has, the greater the chance that they will face problems like smoking, drug use and obesity. • These problems carry costs for the rest of society in terms of health care, deviance and lost productivity. • It follows that the more positive experiences we can create, and the more negative experiences we can prevent, the greater the long-term savings we will generate.

10. Kids Who Start Behind Stay Behind Of 50 Children Who Have Trouble Reading in First Grade 44 Will Still Have Trouble in Fourth Grade First Graders Fourth Graders

11. Adults who have bad childhood experiences often have bad adult outcomes • SOURCE: Felitti, V.J., Kaiser Permanente; and Anda, R.F., Center for Disease Control and Prevention. • SOURCE: Felitti, V.J., Kaiser Permanente; and Anda, R.F., Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

12. More Good News • Business leaders from across the country, from all sectors and sizes of companies, are getting behind this issue. • Formal and informal groups are forming to advocate for common-sense policies that help strengthen our economy for the long haul by investing in children. • Our peers and policy makers are beginning to understand this issue in its proper context: • NOT an exercise in social engineering or feel-good sentimentality. • An investment in America’s future as important to our bottom line as infrastructure, energy or any other expense.

13. A Growing Realization Portion of Business Leaders Who Say a Skilled Workforce is the Most Important Factor to Business Success Portion Who Say They’re Concerned about Finding Skilled Workers 74% 54% SOURCE: American business leaders’ views on publicly-funded pre-kindergarten and the advantages to the economy. Zogby International. December 2005.

14. A Growing Chorus of Support • Engaged business leaders. • Jim Rohr, CEO of PNC Bank, leading $100 million PNC Grow Up Great. • George Kaiser, CEO of Kaiser-Francis Oil, major supporter of early care and education in Oklahoma. • Ed Basha, CEO of Basha’s Grocery Stores, led fight in Arizona for early childhood ballot initiative. • Massachusetts Strategies for Children campaign business leaders: Mara Aspinall, CEO of Genzyme Genetics; Ronald Sargeant, CEO of Staples; James Brett, CEO of The New England Council; Richard Lord, CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts. • CEOs of Federal Reserve Banks in Richmond, Cleveland and San Francisco made statements in support of early investments as economic development. • Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke – “high returns that early childhood programs can pay.”

15. The Bottom Line • We are leaving behind a complex world for our children to inherit. • We know what skills will be required of our children to meet the challenges of tomorrow. • We know the programs and policies that must be implemented for all children to develop those skills. • We have each benefitted personally from the promise of the American Dream. • Aside from pure self-interest … if we owe the future anything, it’s to make the investments that will keep that promise alive for generations to come.

16. What is happening in our state/city? • Here add info about the conditions of children in your area, the needed policy changes and what you are asking the audience to do.

17. Discussion

18. For More Resources Partnership for America’s Economic Success 901 E Street, NW, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20004 (202) 552-2000 info@PartnershipforSuccess.org www.PartnershipforSuccess.org