There's a wealth of information on the early childhood years where the graduation pipeline begins. Here you will find some representative reports, research and articles. Posting here does not indicate Georgia Partnership endorsement.
The Abecedarin Project
University of North Carolina
Poor children who get high-quality day care as early as infancy reap long-lasting benefits, including a better chance at a college degree and steady employment, according to this study that followed participants from birth to age 30. Relating story. (January 2012)
The Importance of Talking in Class
American Sociological Review
A recent University of Pennsylvania study shows that economic and social class plays a role in elementary grade students' ability to ask for help from teachers. (January 2012)
Policy Brief: The Importance of Aligning Pre-K Through 3rd Grade
The Pre-K Coalition
Child development is a continuous process that must be fed and nurtured along the way. Gains made in high-quality pre-k programs must be sustained by quality education throughout the K-3 years. (January 2012)
Starting Out Right: Pre-k and Kindergarten
The Center for Public Education
What’s the best early childhood education combination communities can provide? Until now, research hasn’t had an answer. Relating story. (November 2011)
Does When You Are Born Matter? The Impact of the Month of Birth on Children's Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Skills in England
Institute for Fiscal Studies
It is well known that children born at the start of the academic year tend to achieve better exam results, on average, than children born at the end of the academic year. Relating story. (November 2011)
Transforming Public Education - Pathway to a PreK-12 Future
The Pew Center on the States
This report challenges our nation's policymakers to transform public education by moving from a K-12 to a Pre-K-12 system. Related stories: Inside Higher Ed and Education Week. (September 2011)
School-Based Early Childhood Education and Age-28 Well-Being: Effects by Timing, Dosage, and Subgroups
Science Magazine
This reports the effects of the Child-Parent Center Education Program on indicators of well-being up to 25 years later for more than 1400 participants. This established, publicly funded intervention begins in preschool and provides up to six years of service in inner-city Chicago schools. (Link provides a report abstract. Paid subscription for entire report.) Relating article. (June 2011)
Preschool Curriculum: What's in it for Students and Teachers?
The Albert Shanker Institute
This report shows that the efficacy of preschool programs - both in stimulating children's cognitive development and effecitvely reducing the achievement gap - can be signficantly improved if programs are aligned with new research about how children learn in the academic areas of oral language, literacy, math, and science. Relating story (May 2011)
The State of Pre-School 2010
National Institute for Early Education Research
The 2010 State Preschool Yearbook is the eighth in a series of annual reports profiling state-funded prekindegarten programs in the United States. Relating Christian Science Monitor story. (April 2011)
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2011/0426/Preschool-programs-not-spared-as-strapped-states-cut-spending
Getting Ready - The 2010-2011 Maryland School Readiness ReportMaryland State Department of Education
This Maryland study lays out the critical importance of children starting school fully prepared to succeed in kindegarten. Related article. (March 2011)
Update - The Promise of Georgia Pre-K: Building Life-Long Education, Current Budget Savings and Long-Term Economic Growth in Hard Times
Southern Education Foundation
This report finds that the Georgia lottery-supported Pre-Kindergarten program stands out as the state’s most effective, efficient program by helping to improve student performance in K-12 grades and saving taxpayers millions of dollars annually. (March 2011)
Tennessee pre-k students see 82 percent gain over peers
Vanderbilt University - Peabody Research Institute
Children who attended state-funded prekindergarten classes gained an average of 82 percent more on early literacy and math skills than comparable children who did not attend. (February 2011)
Strengthening Pennsylvania Businesses Through Investments in Early Care and Education
America's Edge
This report looks at how investments in early learning increases sales from local businesses, create jobs and grows the economy. (February 2011)
Chicago Longitudinal Study
University of Minnesota - Arthur Reynolds, College of Education and Human Development
According to this study, for every $1 invested in a Chicago early childhood education program, nearly $11 is projected to return to society over the children's lifetimes -- equivalent to an 18 percent annual return on program investment. More Information.. (February 2011)
Numbers negative for funding of pre-K; Georgia Lottery can't keep up with the costs of stellar state program
Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Nancy Badertscher
Sixteen years ago, Georgia created an innovative educational program unlike any in the nation. Using money from the new lottery, the state would offer free "prekindergarten" to 4-year-olds, regardless of family income. But what's ahead for the program considering the current fiscal situation. (January 2010)
Effectiveness of a Program to Accelerate Vocabulary Development in Kindergarten
Regional Education Laboratory - Southwest
This study in Mississippi has found that a good kindergarten literacy program can boost disadvantaged students' vocabulary in kindergarten by as much as an extra month of school. (December 2010)
Long-term Effects of the North Carolina More at Four Pre-Kindergarten Program: Children's Reading and Math Skills at Third Grade
UNC- FPG Child Development Institute
More at Four, North Carolina's state-funded pre-kindergarten for disadvantaged four-year-olds, is making a significant academic difference that extends at least through third grade, according to the latest statewide evaluation of this nationally recognized program. Press release. (November 2010)
Early Learning Left Out - Building an Early Learning Childhood System to Secure America's Future (3rd Edition)
Voices for America's Children
This report examines total investments in education by state and by age, finding that children pre-school aged and younger get only a fraction of the investment that school-aged children get. (November 2010)
The New Mexico Pre-K Evaluation: Impacts from the Fourth Year (2008 - 2009) of New Mexico's State-Funded Pre-K Program
The National Institute for Early Education Research
This initiative has expanded quickly since it began in 2005. During this period of rapid growth, New Mexico PreK has participated in an evaluation using a methodologically rigorous design known as the regression-discontinuity approach. This fourth in a series of reports focuses on the impacts of New Mexico PreK on children’s vocabulary, math, and literacy skills at the beginning of kindergarten. (November 2010)
Blueprint for Early Education Compensation Reform
Bessie Tart Wilson Initiative for Children, Inc.
This report calls for increasing the compensation of early childhood workers through such incentives as bonuses, earned tax credits and loan forgiveness programs in an attempt to attract and retain a well-trained child-care workforce. (September 2010)
Preschoolers' depression can linger; adults opt for meds
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Researchers followed 306 children ages 3 to 6 for 24 months and found that depression doesn't necessarily end when Susie gives back the doll. Children who were depressed at the beginning of the study were four times more likely to be depressed 12 or 24 months later than children who weren't depressed at the beginning of the study. (May 2010)
Early Childhood Experiences Have Lasting Emotional and Psychological Effects
Science Daily
Experiences between birth and age 5 matter significantly to children's long-term emotional and psychological health, and changing these experiences for the better pays dividends. (May 2010)
Child Care Center Findings; Findings from Georgia's Pre-K Program
FPG Child Development Institute, Univ. of North Carolina
This study provides scientific evidence for where further investments are needed while validating Bright from the Start’s current initiatives designed to improve quality in all early learning environments across the state. (March 2010)
Cost savings analysis of school readiness in Michigan - Prepared for Early Childhood Investment Corporation
Wilder Research
This study provides more evidence that early childhood investments pay big dividend to society down the road of a child's life. (January 2010)
Estimates of the Costs and Benefits of Expanding the Early Childhood Education Program in Kentucky
Center for Business and Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Kentucky
A number of findings emerged from this work, but there is one overriding conclusion: When we consider the combined public and private benefits of pre-k, the total estimated benefit is more than $5 for every $1 the state would invest in an expanded pre-k program. (December 2009)
Ready, Willing, and Unable to Serve - Early Education Across America is Needed to Ensure National Security
Mission: Readiness - Military Leaders for Kids
Seventy-five percent of America's young adults can't join the military because they can't pass the entrance exam, are obese, have drug issues or criminal records. Something must be done. (November 2009)
Preschoolers' depression can linger; adults opt for meds
Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Researchers followed 306 children ages 3 to 6 for 24 months and found that depression doesn't necessarily end when Susie gives back the doll. (August 2009)
The Apples Blossom: Abbott Preschool Program Longitudinal Effects Study (Apples)
National Institute for Early Age Research
In the 1999-2000 school year, the state of New Jersey initiated an ambitious and groundbreaking endeavor to help close the achievement gap in urban, low-income districts throughout the state. (July 2009)
Linking Ready Kids to Ready Schools: Building Policy on State and Community Successes
W.K. Kellogg Foundation
An overview and summary of the national forum Linking Ready Kids to Ready Schools: Building Policy on State and Community Successes. (Forum held in March, report first issued in April, posted here July 2009)
Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity
The National Academies Press
Early childhood mathematics is vitally important for young children's present and future educational success. (July 2009)
Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals, Fiscal Year 2010
pre[k]now - The PEW Center on the States
States’ resources are scarcer than they have been in decades, and hard choices must be made about where and how they are best spent. Early learning must be a priority. (June 2009)
The State of Preschool 2008
National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER)
The Yearbook is the sixth in a series of annual reports profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States for 2007 - 08. (April 2009)
Navigating the Opportunities for Families with Young Children in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: An Interactive Tool
Zero to Three - National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families
The ARRA creates significant new investments for early childhood programs and support for working families with young children. This new interactive tool is designed to help policymakers determine the ways in which ARRA funds may be used to positively impact the healthy development of young children. (April 2009)
Implementing Policies to Reduce the Likelihood of Preschool Expulsion - Special Report
Foundation for Child Development
Reducing preschool class sizes, giving pre-K teachers access to mental-health consultants in working with children, and making sure teachers take breaks throughout the day are a few ways early childhood programs can reduce the expulsion of children with behavior problems. (January 2008)
Developing Early Literacy
National Institute for Literacy
Teaching young children about letters and sounds before they begin formal schooling helps them develop a broad range of literacy skills deemed essential to learning to read later on. (December 2008)
Opinion: Universal Pre-School Hasn't Delivered Results
San Francisco Chronicle
There is a strong and growing body of literature showing that preschool produces virtually no lasting benefits for the majority of kids. (October 2008)
Call for New Programs for Early Childhood Educators
The CAYL Institute
In a newly released paper and press release, eight national organizations request that every college president address the issue of early education teaching expertise by asking two questions: What is the current state of our early care and education programs? How can we make them better? (September 2008)
Present, Engaged and Accounted For
National Center for Children in Poverty
The analysis finds that children who are chronically absent in kindergarten have the lowest performance in reading, math and general knowledge in 1st grade. (September 2008)
Schools or the Streets - Crime and America's Dropout Crisis
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
High school dropouts are significantly more likely than graduates to be arrested and incarcerated. And 68% of state prison inmates have not received a high school diploma. (August 2008)
Protect Our Kids from Pre-School
Reason Foundation
Several states believe substantial funding should be aimed at the nation's pre-schoolers. This article in the Wall Street Journal quoting Reagan Foundation researchers says it might not be such a smart idea. (August 2008)
Time to Lead Again: The Promise of Georgia Pre-K
Southern Education Foundation
This report examines how Georgia's lottery-supported pre-kindergarten program has developed since 1995 when Gov. Zell Miller established the goal of Georgia becoming the nation's first state with universal, high-quality Pre-K for all 4-year-olds. (June 2008)
The Economics of Early Childhood Policy
Rand Labor and Popluation / Casey Family Foundation
This report summarizes the contributions from another field—economics—that has played an increasingly prominent role in discussions about early childhood policy. (May 2008)
Leadership Matters: Governors' Pre-K Proposals, Fiscal Year 2009
pre[K]now
For fiscal year 2009, 16 governors and the mayor of the District of Columbia acted boldly to protect and grow high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten programs. (April 2008, posted July 2008)
The Science of Early Childhood Development: Closing the Gap Between What We Know and What We Do
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child - Center on the Developing Child - Harvard University
The qualities of families from which children come matter much more than money as predictors of schools’ effectiveness. This means that in order to improve education, the crucial problems of race and class will have to be faced. Yet this problem has rarely been addressed. (April 2008)
Child Poverty in North Carolina: A Preventable Epidemic
Action for Children - North Carolina
Poverty can have negative effects on child and adolescent brain development which can lead to learning disabilities, behavior problems and other psychological and emotional problems which find their way into the schools. (April 2008)
Early Learning Guidelines
Zero to Three
This report presents recommendations to assist states in creating or revising early learning guidelines for infants and toddlers. (March 2008)
A Science-Based Framework for Early Childhood Policy - Using Evidence to Improve Outcomes in Learning, Behavior, and Health for Vulnerable Children
Center on the Devloping Child - Harvard University
This paper builds on a process of systematic analysis that began with the publication in 2000 of a landmark report by the National Academy of Sciences entitled From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development. (February 2008)
Dollars & Sense: A Review of Economic Analyses of Pre-K
pre[K]now Research Series (Released in 2007, posted February 2008)
The 10 studies compiled in this report are part of a growing body of research regarding the economics of early childhood education. (Released in 2007, posted February 2008)
Getting from Here to There: To an Ideal Early Preschool System
Frank Potter Graham Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The purpose of this paper is to suggest some ways of moving toward a seamless system of providing needed services for preschool children at risk for academic and social failure. (Released in 2004, posted February 2008)
Implementing Policies to Reduce the Likelihood of Preschool Expulsion
Foundation for Child Development
This report says reducing preschool class sizes, giving pre-K teachers access to mental-health consultants in working with children, and making sure teachers take breaks throughout the day are a few ways early childhood programs can reduce the expulsion of children with behavior problems. (January 2008)
Life Chances - The Case for Early Investment In Our Kids - Special Report
The American Prospect
This report, looking at various subject areas, makes the point that social outlay for early childhood education is the best investment we can make in America's future. (January 2008)