1. Raising Up Leaders: Why Quality Early Learning Matters April 28, 2009

2. Children Are Our Future

3. Another View of That Future

4. What Happens Early On … Matters Most

5. Foundation Built In First 5 Years Building brains is like building houses Framework built in first 5 years is foundation for all future learning Stress weakens brain architecture 5

6. Normal Healthy ChildChild with Sensory-Deprivation and Global Neglect CT scans from research by Perry and Pollard (1997). Note: Both children had an average head size (50 th percentile) at time of scan.

7. The Status Quo Nationally Almost 50% of America’s kindergarteners are behind – disadvantaged children by another 2 years Preschoolers in high-income brackets score 60% higher in cognitive scores than lowest-wage brackets In Alabama 24% of children live in poverty Only 38% of 4 th graders are reading on track 35% of high school students drop out More than 50% for children of color

8. Achievement Gap Starts Before School For every 50 children who don’t learn to read in kindergarten, 44 of them will still have trouble in 3 rd grade Children without reading skills by 3 rd grade are unlikely to graduate Grades & absenteeism rates by 3 rd grade predict with 90% accuracy whether the child will drop out

10. Public Spending & Brain Research: The Disconnect Brain Development Public Spending* Source: The RAND Corporation

11. Another Way to View the Disconnect While 85% of a child's core brain structure is formed by age three, less than 4% of public investments on education and development have occurred by that time. 11

12. United Way Success By 6 *SOURCE: 1 – Montgomery Advertiser 2003. About 82% of all Alabamians in prison are high school dropouts. It cost about $20,000 a year to house a prisoner. In comparison, a year of high-quality preschool costs about $4,800. 1 Alabama budgets $17.4 million to pre-k programs. Compare this to our neighbors: Tennessee budgets $83 million Georgia budgets $337 million Florida budgets $356 million State of Alabama Statistics

13. Workforce Challenges More than 50% of high school students lack the written, verbal, critical thinking, problem-solving skills employers need 20% of today’s workforce is functionally illiterate Growing gap: US economy will add fewer educated workers in next 20 years, compared to last 20

14. Supporting Work & Productivity Child care-related absences cost employers $3 billion a year –Average employee misses 8-9 days per year Child care breakdowns associated with parent-employee absenteeism, tardiness, reduced concentration Early learning is part of infrastructure for economic success

15. Business Leaders Speak Out “Economic analysis tells us that early childhood education is a sound investment of limited resources. Scientific research tells us it is an effective strategy to improve educational outcomes. Common sense tells us that it is what children need.” Mara Aspinall, President of Genzyme Genetics

16. The Economist’s View

17. The Economist’s Takeaway “Policymakers should invest in young children, where the return on investment is stronger than in low-skill adults.” “The real question is how to use available funds wisely. The best evidence supports the policy prescription: invest in the very young.” James Heckman Nobel Laureate Economist University of Chicago

18. ROI of Early Childhood Education Studies show early learning influences long-term success School success Graduation Workforce Readiness Job Productivity Community Engagement Special Education Cost Grade Repetition Crime Teen Parents Welfare Dependency Job Training Costs

19. ROI From the Federal Reserve Federal Reserve research found a 12% rate of return for early learning “Recent research…has documented the high return that early childhood programs can pay.“ Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce

20. Building Human Capital = Building The Future “High-quality early childhood education is one of the best investments a nation can make in its young people.” New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce

21. Get Involved!

22. Four Actions You Can Take 1.Get the facts 2.Spread the word (to your employees too) 3.Give – of yourself 4.Make the case 5.Consider making a financial investment

23. Children are our future

24. Thank you