Early Childhood Education

Research shows that high quality education before a child turns five yields significant long-term benefits.

Early childhood education makes good economic sense, as well. A high-ranking Federal Reserve Bank official pegs its return on investment at 12%, after inflation.

NEA President Reg Weaver said, "We know that children who attend full-day kindergarten are better prepared intellectually, socially, and psychologically than children who attend kindergarten for half-days. We know that attempting to repair reading skills in the fourth grade is far more expensive and risky than guaranteeing good pre-reading skills in preschool and good beginning reading skills in kindergarten."

"No other public expenditure can reasonably claim to produce higher economic returns," said W. Steven Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research.

Yet, even though it promises sure-fire returns, the country is not making this investment. A national survey of state preschool programs  concluded that "across our nation, high-quality and readily available state-funded preschool programs are the exception rather than the rule."

NEA believes it is time to change that.

Based on an exhaustive study of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten issues by a special committee, the NEA's Representative Assembly adopted a comprehensive policy document in 2003 that offers recommendations to take full advantage of the educational –- and cost-effective –- benefits early childhood education has to offer.

Among other things, NEA recommends:

• Free, publicly funded, quality kindergarten programs in all states.
• Mandatory full-day kindergarten. Just 14 states require school districts to offer full-day kindergarten.    
• Optional free, publicly funded, quality "universal" pre-kindergarten programs for all three- and four-year-old children whose parents choose to enroll them. Three states are moving toward such a program - Georgia, New York and Oklahoma.    
• Federal funds to make pre-kindergarten programs available for all three- and four-year-old children from disadvantaged families. State and local governments should provide the additional funds necessary to make pre-kindergarten available for all three- and four-year old children.    
• Dedicated funding for early childhood education. Public schools should be the primary provider of pre-kindergarten programs, and additional funding must be allocated to finance them in the same manner as K-12 schools.