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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.
Scott Elliott is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He writes about education, city and suburban issues, politics, business, workforce and consumer issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2010 > August > 01
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Editorial: Cheating kids early on costs Ohio later
Parents are forever in search of educational elixirs to help point their kids toward a life of good health, stability and financial security.
Moms and Dads find activities, tutors, schools, test-prep courses and more, hoping the experiences will have a positive impact. Meanwhile, policy makers try to pinpoint what investments (class size? computers? charter schools?) will do the most for kids.
It’s a complicated puzzle of choices, but a big piece may be simple.
What if a child’s future success could be enhanced just by spending the first year of school with a great kindergarten teacher?
That’s the conclusion of an impressive new study by a team of economists who looked at the lives of 12,000 kids when they reached their 20s and found a great kindergarten teacher can have a measurable impact on a child’s life as demonstrated by future earnings. In fact, they estimate the future value of a great kindergarten teacher on a single class of 20 students translates to $320,000 in additional future earnings for the group.
While the research is just one study and it hasn’t been peer reviewed yet, the results are in line with other long-term examinations of the life outcomes of children who get high-quality early education. Kids in quality kindergartens and preschools tend to go to college more often, make more money, have less trouble with the law and even be healthier than peers who did not.
Ohio, which is behind other states when it comes to supporting early childhood education, should be pushing more of its education dollars to younger children. Instead, it’s giving them less.
The study, the subject of a front-page New York Times story this week, examined data from a Tennessee education experiment that tracked test data for children with comparable demographics in different kindergarten classrooms. In some classes, student test results at the end of the year were much better than at the beginning when compared to kids with other teachers — a trademark sign of good teaching.
Compared to kids in classes that made fewer gains, kids from the classes with the biggest kindergarten gains were doing the best in their 20s and making more money.
Studies like this are rare because they take so much time and can be costly. But the conclusion that quality early education can permanently make a big difference, especially for poor kids, is common to a growing pile of research that has convinced many states to shift education aid toward younger children.
Ohio is on the wrong side of this trend. Preschool funding, for example, took a bigger hit in the 2009 state budget in Ohio than in any other state, according to a study by Pre-K Now, a national group advocating more spending on early childhood education. Ohio eliminated a key preschool program for poor kids as part of an $11.5 million funding cut. An estimated 12,000 Ohio kids were kicked out of programs that helped them attend preschool.
Now some critics of Gov. Ted Strickland’s school-funding reforms say the state should drop a new mandate that eventually will require districts to offer full-day kindergarten to all students. That would be a mistake that would rob kids of a chance at a good start in life.
Ohio is right to prioritize kindergarten. The focus should be on ensuring as many kids as possible are learning from great teachers that first year in school. Every extra minute with those teachers can mean a better chance at being a successful adult.
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