John Tierney: “years ago it was enough to have an education from kindergarten through 12 years, and now it is not enough. People know…”

“years ago it was enough to have an education from kindergarten through 12 years, and now it is not enough. People know that you have to have a couple or 3 years before kindergarten and 2 to 4 years afterwards. It is now essential. It is a priority to have early childhood education. It is a difference between a child's future development and learning advantages, especially for those students that are disadvantaged like the ones that are served by the Head Start program. It makes them prepared for school. A national review of 36 studies on the long-term impact of early childhood education programs found that low-income children who participated in such programs were less likely to be held back, less likely to be placed in special education classes, more likely to succeed in school, more likely to graduate, and more likely to be rated as behaving well in class and better adjusted in school. Researchers have also concluded that there is a greater chance of these positive outcomes when young children are taught by teachers with bachelor's degrees in early childhood education. One of the largest national studies in this early education field was conducted by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development. It showed that caregiver education and training were among the strongest predictors of quality in programs for preschoolers.…”