Investments in Education During a Child's First 8 years...Crucial

Most parents would agree, if asked, that they want the best for their child and most understand that starts with education.  What that education costs and how early that education is started depends on many factors.  According to a recent report, investments in education during a child's first 8 years of life is crucial to academic, and overall success.   To help make its case, the report issued Monday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation highlighted a recent analysis of the Early Childhood Longitudinal study, which found just 36 percent of third graders had developed age-appropriate cognitive knowledge and skills. The longitudinal study started tracking 13,000 children who were enrolled in kindergarten during the 1998-1999 school year.

http://www.progressillinois.com/quick-hits/content/2013/11/04/report-investments-during-childrens-first-eight-years-crucial-school-l

According to the Casey Foundation's report, young children who do not hit these crucial developmental targets often have problems catching up in school and graduating on time. It is also less likely for such children to attain the future financial success and stability needed to support their families, the report noted.

If the first 8 years are that crucial then what can a parent do at home to ensure that their child gets off to a great start for cognitive knowledge and skills before they reach kindergarten or first grade?

"Research suggests that parents who are financially comfortable tend to devote more resources and time to their kids, in part because they can. In work they conducted at the University of Kansas and chronicled in their book Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children, Betty Hart and Todd Risley recorded, for two-and-a-half years, a full hour of conversation every day between parents and children from 42 American families of differing social classes. Children with professional parents heard about 30 million words by the time they turned 3, compared with 20 million in working-class families and 10 million in welfare families. In addition, the ratio of parental encouragements to reprimands was about 6-to-1 among professional families, 2-to-1 among the working class and 1-to-2 in welfare homes. These different experiences closely tracked with the children’s later academic and intellectual performance, and other studies have since supported these findings."

 http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2013/01/how_important_is_preschool_if_you_are_researching_early_education_philosophies.html

Mr.Shiver in the below article points out that investing in a comprehensive national early childhood program could add $2 trillion to the annual gross domestic product within a generation, according to the Brookings Institute, and result in a dramatic decrease to poverty rates.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-kennedy-shriver/america-cant-afford-to-wa_b_4265452.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education

To understand your role as a parent in the first 8 years consider your financial situation as lucky if you are in the professional parent category according to this study.  Whether we want to admit it to ourselves or not, money and social class background do play a strong role in the those formative years in a child's life.  The bottom line here is that it is our responsibility as parents and stewards of our planet to ensure all children are given the tools to succeed in school and in life. 

"Investing in a comprehensive national early childhood program could add $2 trillion to the annual gross domestic product within a generation, according to the Brookings Institute, and result in a dramatic decrease to poverty rates."  - See more at: http://pugetperspectives.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-will-society-as-whole-benefit-from.html#sthash.YmIqqJsS.dpuf

The bottom line is that it is our responsibility as parents and voters, and stewards of our planet to ensure children are given the tools to succeed in school. The benefit is not just to the individual or the family, but to society as a whole, as better educated children are more likely to go on to get a higher education, earn higher incomes, and become more productive, critically thinking members of society with a greater ability to take responsibility for their world - our world. - See more at: http://pugetperspectives.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-will-society-as-whole-benefit-from.html#sthash.ajUNDYBm.dpuf

The bottom line is that it is our responsibility as parents and voters, and stewards of our planet to ensure children are given the tools to succeed in school. The benefit is not just to the individual or the family, but to society as a whole, as better educated children are more likely to go on to get a higher education, earn higher incomes, and become more productive, critically thinking members of society with a greater ability to take responsibility for their world - our world. - See more at: http://pugetperspectives.blogspot.com/2013/11/how-will-society-as-whole-benefit-from.html#sthash.ajUNDYBm.dpuf