1) High-quality early childhood education can: 1) Close the achievement gap by half, 2) Increase high school graduation by 31%, 3) Decrease grade level retention by 50%, 4) Increase college attendance by 80%, and 5) Decrease juvenile arrests by 30%.

2) 35% of children under 5 years old in Louisiana have either a Moderate-High or a High Risk of entering school already behind. Children who start behind typically remain behind.

3) 85% of who you are-your intellect, your personality, your social skills-is developed by age 5.

4) During the first 3 years of life, the brain undergoes its most dramatic development and children acquire the ability to think, speak, learn, and reason. When this early development is not nurtured, the brain’s architecture is affected and young children begin to fall behind.

5) Children who attend early education programs are 50% less likely to become teenage parents.

6) Children who attend early education programs are 4 times more likely to earn more than $2,000 a month.

7) Children’s academic successes at ages 9 and 10 can be attributed to the amount of talk they hear from birth through age 3 and half.

8) By age 5, it is possible to predict who will complete high school or college and who won’t.

9) Children living in poverty may hear only 10 million words by age 3 compared to 33 million for high income children.

References:

1 – Ready Nation “Business Case for Early Childhood”
2 – www.lsuteearlychild.org
3 – Massachusetts Early Education for All
5 – www.childrenslearninginstitue.org
6 – www.datacenter.spps.org
8 – David Brooks, Columnist New York Times
9 – 10 mill: TR & Hart Risley, 2006