The research is in

Studies by educators and economists agree: full-day learning is good for young children, families and our province. In his report, With Our Best Future in Mind: Implementing Early Learning in Ontario, the Premier’s Special Advisor on Early Learning, Dr. Charles Pascal, presents some of their research:

Many studies have shown that full-day learning programs for four- and five-year-olds can have a positive impact on their academic, social and emotional development. These programs also give the children’s parents more opportunities to work towards a better future for their families. For example:

• A Rutgers University study found that prolonged and regular full-day preschool attendance significantly increased children’s verbal and mathematics test scores in Grade 1 and beyond.
• A University of Ottawa study found that full-day preschool programs for four-year-old children had a positive effect on the children’s language and academic learning.
• That same study noted that parents of the children enrolled in the full-day program observed higher levels of progress in their children, and that the teachers observed that children in the full-day program more easily adjusted to academic life than children who attended a half-day program.
• Early childhood programs that help compensate children for difficult home and community environments and that support parents to work or upgrade their job skills are highly effective at reducing the rate and depth of family poverty.
• A recent study from Harvard University found that students who learned more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college and earn more over time.

In their report, Ontario in the Creative Age, Roger Martin and Richard Florida recommend: “Make early childhood development a high priority. This is the highest payoff investment we can make in our long-run prosperity.” Economic studies make that clear:

• A Manitoba study reveals that spending on early childhood programs has an economic multiplier effect on local economies, generating up to $1.7 dollars for every $1 spent.
• The Ypsilanti, Michigan, study has spent 40 years tracking the cost-benefits of a preschool and family intervention program on a group of inner city minority children. It calculates $17 in health, justice, and social welfare savings for every $1 spent on the program.
• Nobel laureate economist James Heckman calculates a 7:1 return on public investment for programs for young children, compared to a 1:1 payback from adult education.