Investing in Early Learning Makes Sense, Saves a Few Bucks Too

It seemed to be all early learning, all the time today.

First I made the stop by St. Anne's Children and Family Center, and then I listened at lunch to the gov talk about early learning, and how for every dollar spent at the front end ,the ed system and the state saves $8. Note to Christine: Drop the "Joe" story and find a real person. I've heard it about three times now (counting the first time you told it on Monday) and your staff should be able to find you a real person.

A nuts and bolts example of the savings, both financially and emotionally, of early learning investment was provided at one of the last session's today by the Kennewick School District. Five years ago, that district's board realized that too many of their kids were not entering kindergarten ready to learn. So the district started a program, free to all parents, regardless of ability to pay, to help them work with their kids at home from babyhood through five years old.

Called "Ready for Kindergarten" the program has been a great success, and upped the number of kids ready for kindergarten to the 70 percent or more level in that district. Lynn Fielding, board president, presented some pretty compelling numbers on how kids who entered behind the curve, stayed behind the curve for the next 10 years. It didn't matter if they were boy or girl, or their ethnicity, they stayed behind. And the district ended up spending an huge amount of its $100 million annual budget helping these kids, to the detriment of the kids who had entered kindergarten ready to learn.

"The achievement gap starts at home, before they even come to school," he said.

Now, over 1,000 parents a year take advantage of this program, which  costs the district about $225,000 annually. After the program, without missing a beat, Fielding said that the program easily pays for itself.

And it doesn't seem to onerous on the parents, who seem eager to come to these trice-yearly sessions. They are taught how to help their toddlers recognize the letter of their first name. What letters feel like (wooden blocks). And how to get a baby to begin tracking words or things.

Fielding said that the $40 worth of toys and games they give out may seem like no big deal to the more well-off families. But to the poorer ones, "it's like Christmas," he said.