The Importance of Childhood Education

THE IMPORTANCE OF CHILDHOOD EDUCATION A bright start Children who get the attention they need early in life do better in school, and are likely to have higher long-term earnings, a better social status, and a happier life. The brain grows most during the first 3 years of life. Pruning of nerve connections begins after 12 months, when synapses that aren't used disconnect and wither. This means that much of the effort in nurturing and education must be put forth before children reach their fourth birthday. Babies grow, learn, and develop rapidly when they receive love, attention, When they are awake and with their parents, 1- and 2-year-old American children hear an average of: encouragement, and mental stimulation, as well as nutrition meals and good health. apple During these early years, care. a parent should to talk to their 340 1,440 UTTERANCES PER HOUR WORDS children on a PER HOUR regular basis. 90 QUESTIONS PER HOUR REPRIMANDS PER HOUR Source: www.weif.org Early childhood education increases the likelihood of graduating from high school and higher lifetime earnings Rates of return on investing in human capital through education and training • The rate of return to a dollar of investment made while a person is younger is higher than the rate • Learning in early stages of life provides a better foundation for learning later in life. Investment in the earlier stages of childhood increases the productivity for the rest of your life. of return for the same dollar made later in life. RATE OF RETURN TO INVESTMENT IN HUMAN CAPITAL Adults (at age 40) who participated in a pre-school program when they were young have higher earnings and are more likely to hold a good job. The return to society is more than $16 for every tax dollar invested in the early child care and Pre-school programs education program. Schooling Job training Pre-school School Post-school AGE The staff studied the The effects of high quality programs were strongest for low-income families and for children whose parents did not have a college degree. The study was conducted over four decades by same groups of children every year from age 3 to age 11, and again at ages 14, 15, 19 and 27. David P.Weikart and Larry Schweinhart. In the group who received high-quality early education . the differences were most dramatic for female participants .while in the non-program group 65% only 45% 84% vs. 32% of participants graduated from high school graduated from high school Source: Organisation for Econcmie Co-operation and Development (OECD). www.highscope.org Stay-at-Home Moms in the U.S. They were... 5.3 million in 2008 00000 85.4 23% million 5.1 million in 2009 00 of married couple family groups with children 5 million 00000 under 15 had a stay- at-home mother Estimated number of Stay-at-Home Moms in the United States in 2011. Estimated number of mo in the United States in 2009. Source: Survey of Income and Program Participation, unpublished tabulations Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements Table SP-1 Compared with other moms, stay-at-home moms in 2007 were more likely: Hispanic Foreign-born A Living with a child under age 5 Younger 44% 27% 34% 57% were under age 35 compared with 38% of mothers in the labor force compared with 16% of mothers in the labor force compared with 19% of mothers in the labor force compared with 43% of mothers in the labor force Source: America's Families and Living Arrangementa: 2007 Stay-at-Home Moms: Nurturing and Developing Young Minds What the experts say • Two studies from 2003, one conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Some experts in early childhood development believe there's no substitute for the nurturing influence of a mother, especially if the alternative is an unstructured daycare environment. Development and the other by the Institute of Child Development of the University of Minnesota, found that: Follow-up research in 2010 Kids who spent all day in daycare had higher levels confirmed these results, showing the continued negative impact of low-quality daycare on young children, even after they reached adolescence. of stress and more aggression than kids cared for at home. Finding Balance for Your Children and Yourself Develop and implement a schedule that includes your daily routines. Stop trying to do everything. Pursuing an impossible definition of "perfection" is exhausting. Children are a lot of work, but they are also loads of fun. Don't allow yourself to get so overwhelmed by the work that you forget to enjoy your children. Connect with a local mom's group for mothers with children of similar ages. Refuel. Schedule "mom time" on the calendar at least once a week. If you are a stay- at-home mom, you are in "give" mode the majority of the time, and this can be 55% difficult to sustain. Mothers with a recent birth (less than 1 year) working Moms and Unemployed Moms who were in the labor force NORTH DAKOTA in 2010. IStates with higher than average (10%) levels of new mothers who were unemployed, 2008 72% DELAWARE ---- COUTH ALASKA HAWAII Mothers with children over 1 year old who were ER ALABAMA in the labor force in 2010. About the same as childless women, but they were 39% in 1976 Making a Family-Friendly Career Work for You Flexible schedules make it possible for women to work from home on a full-time or part-time basis. In many cases, this can improve the quality of both a women's home and work life. Many companies allow their employees to work from home one or more days per week, through telecommuting. As more baby boomers retire and a worker shortage ensues, flexible schedules will become more common in American companies. 55% 43% of working moms take advantage of flexible work arrangements at their organizations of working moms are willing to take a pay cut if it allows them to spend more time with their children. 34% Of those willing to take the pay cut are willing to give up 10% or more of their salaries. Source: hetp://www.babycenter.com/0_choosing-to-stay-home_453.bc, http://www.babycenter.com/0_staying-at-home-pros-and-cons_6085.be http://www.wikihow.com/Enjoy-Being-a-Stay-at-ome-Mom, http://www.census.gov/hhes/tertility/data/ops/2010.html, http://www.oprah.com/money/Fexible-jobe-for-Women/1, http://www.careerpath.com/career-advice/S-family-triendly-careens http://www.careerpath.com/career-advice/how-mothers-can-balance-work-and-family A Breakdown of Early Childhood Education from around the World Family day care, Pre-school and Compulsory primary Mix of services, A health and family services A other services, provided by the government or pre-school education services some provided by the government birth AGE OF CHILDREN United State Predominantly private child care centers and family day care centers provide for 50% of 0-3 year olds, but under gov't responsibility 40% of 3-4 year olds and 70% of 4-5 year olds enrolled in educationa programs, including pre-K, private kindergarten, Head Start, and others Compulsory school begins Over 80% are enrolled in state-funded kindergarten United Kingdom Nurseries Predominantly private nurseries care for 26% of 0-3 year olds, but under gov't responsibility Reception Compulsory covers 9 leeN of chool of 3-4 year olds begins 4-5 year olds at S Sweden Compulsory Family day care for 8% of children Full-day kindergarten enrolls 45% of 1-2 year olds; 86% of 2-3 year olds; 91% of 4-5 year olds; 96% of 5-6 year olds school at 7 Accredited centers and family day care cover up to 61.5% of 4 year olds and = 24.6% of 0-3 year olds class enrolls 17% of Kindergarten or reception Compulsory achool begins at 6 Australia 4 year olds; 84% of 5 year olds Lack of precise data on 0-4 year olds. Excepting Quebec (enrolling 38% of 0-4 year olds), state support is weak, many private and unsupervised arrangements. Jurior K: 40% Kindergarten: Compulsory 95% of 5-6 Canada of 4-5 year olds in Ontario: 50%+ enrolled school begins at 6 year olds in Quebec Day care centers cover 37% in former E. Germany, and = 3%of 0-3 year olds in former W. Germany (8.6% of 0-3 year olds nationally) Kindergarten covers 90% Compulsory of 3-6 year olds, generally school full-day in former E. Germany Germany begins at 6 Family day care for 18% of 0-3 year olds, day cares 8% and other 2 year olds and almost all licensed arrangements provide for 6% 3 year olds. The entitlement of children The pre-school enrols 35% Compulsory school begins at 6 France is tree since 2003 ecover 18.7% of 0-3 year olds. Most children either in family or other informal settings The pre-school covers 70-90% of children from age 3 (depends on region) Italy C ory begins at 6 Pro-achool Compulsory together cover 27.5% of 1-2 year olds, 44% of 2-3 year olds, and 73% by age 5, enols 96% of school 6-7 year olds begins at 7 Finland Family day care and municipal early development centers with 54% in family day care and 46% in centers SchoolTutoring.com ACADEMY