The Lincoln (NE) Journal Star wrote an editorial last week about the importance of investing in early learning.
Pay heed to local hard-headed law enforcement professionals who deal with the worst that society has to offer on a daily basis.The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act will invest $1 billion each year in competitive grants to challenge states to build comprehensive, high quality early learning systems for children birth to age 5. It will also:
Speaking out in support of increased funding for early childhood education this week were Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady, Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey and his chief deputy Joe Kelly.
"It's a concept that makes complete sense to all of us in this line of work," Kelly said. "The mission is validated by research."
Studies show a return of as much as $13 for every dollar invested in care and learning systems for disadvantaged children, according to Jen Hernandez of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation.
The return comes in the form of savings in the cost of operating the criminal justice system, welfare, schools and other public systems. Research shows that participants in early childhood programs are as much as 29 percent more likely to graduate from high school and 40 percent less likely to repeat grades or be placed in special education.
- Build an effective, qualified, and well-compensated early childhood workforce by supporting more effective providers with degrees in early education and better compensation, and providing sustained, intensive, classroom-focused professional development to improve the knowledge and skills of early childhood providers
- Best practices in the classroom by implementing research-based early learning and development standards aligned with academic content standards for grades K-3.
- Promote parent and family involvement by developing outreach strategies to parents that will help them support their children’s development.
- Fund quality initiatives that improve instructional practices, programmatic practices, and classroom environments that promote school readiness.
- Quality standards reform that moves toward pre-service training requirements for early learning providers, and adoption of developmentally appropriate standards for teacher-child ratios and group size.
