Montana Governor and Mrs. Schweitzer join call for early education as a driving force for successful economic development

For a long time, Gov. Schweitzer believed the best way to address the increasing demand for skilled workers was to increase funding for higher education and, particularly for two-year programs, to help rapidly turn out a work force ready to meet shifting employment needs.

But at the most recent Western Governors Conference, four world-renowned education specialists changed his mind. They told him that, were they in charge of dividing up the education dollars, they would all – unanimously – give more funds to early childhood education.

Children who have a good start from the beginning are better prepared to enter kindergarten, which leaves them better prepared to enter first grade, and so on all the way through college, he learned.

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In fact, studies have shown that investments in early education have measurable rates of return, he said. Indeed, one study showed a rate of return of 16 percent.

“That’s a very high rate of return, and most of that is public,” he said. “You can’t find a better rate of return.”

Yet we continue to allow cities and states to engage in bidding wars, each attempting to lure business from the others with promises of new buildings erected on the public dime, Rolnick said.

True, investments in buildings produce an immediate, tangible, visible return. But competition among communities just moves jobs around and gets the government involved where it’s not known to be particularly efficient, he said.

“That’s the wrong way to do economic development,” he said.

By TYLER CHRISTENSEN of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2006/10/05/news/mtregional/news06.txt

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A Proposal for Achieving High Returns on Early Childhood Development http://www.minneapolisfed.org/research/studies/earlychild/draft_ecd_proposal.pdf

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Education Reform. The Finance Project’s Education Reform practice group http://www.matr.net/article-21028.html

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New Collaborative to Promote Research and Policy Analysis on Early
Childhood Development

The Center for Early Education and Development at the University of Minnesota, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis are teaming up to enhance multidisciplinary research on high-profile policy discussions on early childhood development.

The Early Childhood Research Collaborative (ECRC) is a unique partnership that brings together prominent researchers and faculty members in a variety of disciplines at the university with economists at the Federal Reserve to develop and synthesize research on cost-effective
investments in early childhood.

http://www.earlychildhoodrc.org/news/release.cfm

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Effects of a School-Based, Early Childhood Intervention on Adult Health and Well Being:
A 20-Year Follow Up of Low-Income Families http://www.earlychildhoodrc.org/papers/reynolds_cpc.pdf

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Standardized Classroom Observations From Pre-K to 3rd Grade: A Mechanism For Improving Access To Consistently High Quality Classroom Experiences and Practices During the P-3 Years http://www.earlychildhoodrc.org/papers/pianta_observations.pdf

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The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children [Tables and Figures] http://www.earlychildhoodrc.org/papers/heckman_investing.pdf

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CED Releases Report on Economic Benefits of Investing in Preschool http://www.matr.net/article-19761.html

Universal preschool proposed in Calif. http://www.matr.net/article-19403.html

Full-day kindergarten. Montana kids deserve it now http://www.matr.net/article-19388.html

The Effects of Investing in Early Education on Economic Growth http://www.matr.net/article-19295.html

Universal preschool, universal benefits http://www.matr.net/article-18764.html

Early Childhood Education Endorsed as Economic Development Strategy http://www.matr.net/article-16895.html

States should invest in preschool http://www.matr.net/article-16764.html

Report Highlights Governors Leadership on Pre-Kindergarten http://www.matr.net/article-14516.html

Early education called business asset http://www.matr.net/article-14023.html