I know I need good workers, but why do I care about early education? Presentation to OCBC Workforce Development Committee Steven Cahn, California Strategies February 22, 2012

Why you should care about ECE Three main reasons to care about the quality and accessibility of early education: Competitiveness – for your company and the economy, California and the U.S. It’s a smart investment – high ROI Peer pressure – other business leaders are on board, don’t get left behind

High-quality ECE works Studies show that high-quality early education helps better prepare students: RAND, Pew Center, Abecedarian, Perry Preschool Recent study of five high-quality, state-funded pre-k programs in New Jersey, Oklahoma, Michigan, South Carolina and West Virginia found gains of 31% in vocabulary, 44% in early math skills and 85% in print awareness

ECE establishes ‘soft skills’ Early learning programs help kids develop social skills such as cooperating, making friends and accepting new responsibilities. Early childhood education builds important pre-literacy and early math skills and fosters children’s love of learning by encouraging exploration. Companies increasingly are demanding workers excel at ‘soft skills’

Competitiveness For your company and the economy – today Workers you want and need today – highly skilled, highly trained, highly educated – choose where to live and work based on the quality of education – and that begins before Kindergarten If workers’ kids aren’t in a safe, nurturing environment, your workers will be distracted or will call in sick

Competitiveness For your company and the economy – today ECE is a major industry in its own right. It providing tens of thousands of jobs in communities across California. In LA, it generates $1.9 billion in gross receipts and creates more than 65,000 full-time equivalent jobs Are you big enough to provide high-quality, on- site early education? Would workers want that?

Competitiveness For your company and economy – tomorrow PPIC projects that in 2025, California will have a deficit of 1 million college-educated workers California, and Orange County, will be led by strengthening of creative and innovation economies: high-tech, biotech, sciences Strong ECE programs today = strong workforce in the years and decades ahead

Competitiveness For California California ranks 46 th out of 52 states and jurisdictions in student performance. Behind us? Tennessee, New Mexico, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and the District of Columbia, according to 2011 stats In 1960s and ‘70s, California ranked at the top The story is the same among just best students. Just 4.5% of California students are advanced in math – U.S. average is 6%

Competitiveness For the U.S. U.S. ranks 21 st in science and 25 th in math among 30 industrial countries On average, by 8 th grade U.S. students are two grades behind in math compared to peers in other countries Only 6% of U.S. students are at an advanced level in math. That’s 31 st. Taiwan is 28%. Finland is 20%.

Competitiveness For the U.S. # of students in China: About 325 million Top 10 % of Chinese students: 32 million # of students in India: About 270 million Top 10% of Indian students: 27 million Total top 10% of Indian and Chinese students: about 60 million # of students in U.S.: About 70 million

Smart investment Nobel Prize winning economist James Heckman is a strong advocate who has measured the ROI on early education at more than $7 for every dollar spent. – The earlier the investment, the greater – It saves government spending on K-12 education, public assistance and the criminal justice system, and increases tax revenues as a result of higher earnings

Smart investment Studies tell us that kids who start school behind their peers stay behind At age 3, low-income kids have vocabularies of only about 500 words, while high-income children know more than 1,100 words The cost of this achievement gap is steep – if the U.S. had closed it a decade ago, gross domestic product in 2008 would have been $440 billion to $670 billion higher, according to a McKinsey & Co. report.

Smart investment U.S. spends $3,900 per child on early childhood education, roughly what China spends on college China spends $6,000-$10,000 on early education – closer to what U.S. spends on higher ed The latest: Does remediation – grade repetition, special education, extra tutoring – actually cost more than a year of preschool for the neediest kids?

Smart investment According to the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University: Early experiences – particularly from birth to 1 st day of kindergarten – shape whether a child’s brain develops a strong foundation for learning, health and behavior that follow Neuroscience indicate that early preventive intervention is more efficient with more favorable outcomes than remediation later in life Babies’ brains require stable, caring, interactive relationships with adults – programs that foster these relationships benefit healthy brain development

Smart investment

Peer pressure The business community is one of ECE’s strongest advocates OCBC is a member of the California Preschool Business Advisory Council: Represent 6,000 companies that employ more than 2 million workers in California and operate in more than 35 different sectors of the state’s economy Educare centers on way in LA and San Jose; business is helping fund-raising efforts

Peer pressure Coalesced around Transitional Kindergarten – As part of moving the kindergarten start date from December to September – in line with most of the U.S. and because the ‘youngest 5s’ often are not ready for the rigors of school – the state established TK – TK will bring developmentally appropriate early learning in public schools. 125,000 kids per year will be eligible (also can opt out)

We’re talking quality This isn’t babysitting. This isn’t just playtime This is well-researched, well-tested, age- and developmentally appropriate learning These programs engage with parents and families 1 teacher/10 students Tested curriculum

We’re talking quality Teachers in high-quality programs: are expert, well-trained and have received specialized training in early childhood education receive ongoing professional development are professionally compensated with salaries commensurate with their education and experience reflect cultural and linguistic diversity of the children and families they serve are given time to reflect on their classroom practice, observe and track children’s progress and develop curriculum plans based on each child’s needs

What’s happening next? In December, California received $52 million in federal grant money to help develop a statewide ratings system; better coordinate ECE with K-12 and help with workforce development TK is under scrutiny in the budget Tax measure. Munger initiative would provide 10% of projects $10 billion to ECE

How can I get involved? Talk to Alicia Berhow about the REAL Coalition and the Advisory Council Find out more about Transitional Kindergarten Connect with the Orange County Department of Education

Resources Nobel Prize winner James Heckman: Preschool California: Center on the Developing Child