This video should be required viewing.
A Plan for a Better US
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 | Author: Smart Start
Category: Investing In Our Workforce
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The Business Imperative for Improving Early Childhood Education
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 | Author: Smart Start
Early in March 2011, business leaders gathered in Washington, DC to discuss how investing in young children today is a sound economic decision that provides up to 10 percent return on investment and is critical for keeping America competitive. The panelists included
- Rob Grunewald, associate economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He conducts economic research and is the author of “Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return.”
- Al Stroucken, Chairman and CEO of Owens-Illinois, Inc., the world’s leading glass container manufacturer with more than 22,000 employees in 21 countries. The $7.1 billion company is headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio. In addition to his leadership on behalf of Owens-Illinois, Inc., Mr. Stroucken has a longstanding commitment to the United Way.
- Lloyd Lamm, the regional banking executive for the Capital Region of First National Bank, headquartered in western Pennsylvania. Mr. Lamm is a member of Pennsylvania’s Early Learning Investment Commission, whose mission is to secure support for public investment in early learning by focusing on practices that are educationally, economically, and scientifically sound.
Watch the event online. It was co-sponsored by the Committee for Economic Development, the Manufacturing Institute, and the Partnership for America’s Economic Success. It was moderated by Harriet Dichter, National Director, First Five Years Fund.
Category: Investing In Our Workforce
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Early Learning Matters! Watch the Video
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 | Author: Smart Start
The First Five Years Fund has developed an amazing video that addresses the importance of early childhood education. It’s worth watching!
Category: Investing In Our Workforce
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New evidence for large state and local returns from investments in preschool and child care
Thursday, March 24th, 2011 | Author: Smart Start
Tim Bartik, author of Investing in Kids: Early Childhood Programs and Local Economic Development, says the recent Duke study demonstrates signficant economic impact for North Carolina. Duke researchers found that third-graders have higher standardized reading and math scores and lower special education placement rates in those counties that had received relatively more funding for Smart Start and More at Four when these children were younger.
Bartik writes:
The Duke research finds that each of these programs is associated with an increase in test scores that is equivalent to about 2 months of extra achievement. Therefore, the total extra achievement associated with both programs together is 4 months. This extra achievement is averaged over all 3rd graders born in the county. Even with peer effects and other spillovers, obviously we would expect the test score effects for program participants to be greater than 4 months.
What is this extra achievement worth? In chapter 12 of my book Investing in Kids, I address the issue of how much an improvement in early elementary test scores is worth to a state economy, in higher earnings per capita of state residents. Based on that research, I calculate that increasing 3rd grade achievement by 4 months for one student will increase the present value of state per capita earnings by $23,643.
The ratio of state economic development benefits to state program costs for North Carolina’s programs is then calculated to be 8.79.
Read the entire posting.
UPDATE: Listen to a podcast interview with Tim Bartik.
Category: Investing In Our Workforce
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NC Businesses Step Forward to Protect Early Childhood Education
Thursday, March 24th, 2011 | Author: Smart Start
As state lawmakers try to make up for the budget shortfall, some North Carolina business leaders say early-childhood education programs are integral to the success of their business.
More than 50 business leaders joined former Gov. Jim Hunt this week to take that message to legislators who are considering cutting or eliminating programs such as Smart Start. That program provides education and support for children age birth to 5 years and their parents.
Todd Hildebran, a Republican who owns Hildebran Management Consulting, says he’d rather make an investment in the lives of children from their beginning.
“I see the money that we spend on children as the most inexpensive way to prepare them for education, instead of paying the long-term effects of having a child that is uneducated.”
Early-learning programs in North Carolina are credited with making it possible for 380,000 parents to work. Those families earn more than $12 billion annually, and Hildebran says that money goes back into communities.
“If we provide quality daycare, we are able to bring in quality employees for some of the top companies and corporations that we want to bring to North Carolina.”
An independent study from Duke University, released last week, found that children in counties that received more Smart Start funding performed better on third-grade end-of-year tests.
By Stephanie Carroll Carson, Public News Service – NC
Listen to the radio story: NC Businesses Step Forward to Protect Early Childhood Education
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Category: Investing In Our Workforce
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Stop Investing in Stadiums…Start Investing in Kids
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland has posted a fantastic interview with Art Rolnick, an economist and former research director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. He talk about how he came to write a report with Rob Grunewald about economics of early childhood education. In 2003, Rolnick and colleague Grunewald wrote a policy proposal that advocates providing high-quality early childhood education to at-risk children. That effort has grown into a pilot program supported by the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation. Today, he is a Senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute in Minnesota.
Category: Investing In Our Workforce
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Increase Investments in ECE for Economic Growth
Wednesday, December 01st, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
Early childhood education and quality child care are among the top investments that should be increased to create the foundation for long-run economic growth according to a new report.
Our Fiscal Security, a collaborative effort of The Century Foundation, Demos and the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), today released Investing in America’s Economy: A Budget Blueprint for Economic Recovery and Fiscal Responsibility. This Blueprint is a detailed roadmap to immediate investments in job creation while addressing the nation’s long-run fiscal challenges.
Category: Investing In Our Workforce
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Rethinking Public Investments in America’s Children
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
The Foundation for Child Development has released its 2010 Annual Report, Securing Our Future? Rethinking Public Investments in America’s Children. In the annual essay, Ruby Takanishi and Lisa Chen make a case for a greater investment in our children’s future. Less than ten percent of the Fiscal Year 2010 federal budget of $3.603 trillion is allocated to children and youth. That number is projected to decline.
The Urban Institute and The Brookings Institution released three reports providing first-time analyses of federal investments in children, based on their age groupings.
Category: Investing In Our Workforce
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Investing in Our Nation’s Children and Future
Thursday, November 04th, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
The final release of papers from First Focus’ Big Ideas: Game-Changers for Children, proposes ideas for Investing in Our Nation’s Children and Future.
The Children’s Budget
Karen Crompton and Janis Dubno, both of Voices for Utah Children, discuss the benefits of a Children’s Budget, a comprehensive report on state and federal funding for programs that impact children, for policymakers, advocates, and state legislation.
Does CBO Need a Nudge to Invest in Our Children?
In this essay, Dr. James S. Marks, director of the Health Group at the Roberto Wood Johnson Foundation, discusses the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) method of “scoring”, the system used for evaluating costs and economic value within federal policy, and how the current limitations of the process are affecting the lives and future of our nation’s youth.
Mobilizing Business Champions for Smart Investment in Young Children
Sara Watson and Robert Dugger, both of the Partnership for America’s Economic Success, highlight the economic contexts for investments by business in education, as well as strategies to engage the business community in children’s advocacy initiatives.
Connecting the Dots: Community Colleges, Children, and Our Country’s Future
In this paper, Elizabeth Mason and Julie Kashen of SingleStop USA, stress the importance of creating a comprehensive counseling system for community college students. The system would allow them to increase their own bottom lines, and therefore their academic potential.
Category: Investing In Our Workforce
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