High Quality Child Care A Great Investment

"First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others."
–Thomas à Kempis

HIGH QUALITY CHILD CARE A GREAT INVESTMENT

For every dollar spent on high-quality early education programs, taxpayers can expect four dollars in benefits, according to a new analysis of data from a long-running research project at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Steven Barnett and Dr. Leonard Massey did a benefit-cost analysis of the Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention Project, which began in the 1970s at FPG. They found: 

-- Children in high-quality programs are projected to make roughly $143,000 more over their lifetimes than those who didn’t take part in the program. 

-- Mothers of children who were enrolled can also expect greater earnings – about $133,000 more over their lifetimes. 

-- School districts can expect to save more than $11,000 per child because participants are less likely to require special or remedial education.

-- Results suggest a possible impact on smoking. Participants were less likely to smoke (39% versus 55% in the control group), resulting in health benefits and longer lives.

Barnett said his team concluded that the average annual cost of the Abecedarian intervention would be about $13,000 per child in 2002 dollars. That’s about twice the cost of the average Head Start program. “Even at that, the benefits outweigh the costs by a factor of four dollars for every dollar spent,” he said. The researchers also concluded that the pay-off would probably be much greater in other communities, especially high-crime and low-income neighborhoods, because the project was conducted in Chapel Hill, a middle-class community more supportive than most of early education. 

“Our analysis may actually underestimate the benefits of high-quality project for disadvantaged communities. For example, other studies such as the Perry Preschool Project, have estimated a return of up to seven dollars for every taxpayer dollar spent on early education, with most of the return from decreased crime costs,” said Barnett. 
The Abecedarian Project was began by Dr. Craig Ramey with 57 infants from low-income families who were randomly assigned to a high quality child care setting at FPG. Another 54 infants were in a control group that did not receive the same intervention, although some did attend other child care centers. The project included small class sizes, well-trained and well-compensated teachers, and a strong curriculum. 

Dr. Frances Campbell at FPG has followed the participants, who are now young adults, and found that they were more likely to perform well on intelligence tests, pursue higher education and delay parenting than those who did not take part in the program.

Participants will soon taking part in the age-30 follow-up study by Campbell. 
For general information about the Abecedarian project and specific data from the Abecedarian Project Age 21 Follow-Up, visit www.fpg.unc.edu/~abc/index.htm.

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