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Jim Rex and Mark Shriver: Early-education efforts must continue to grow

Originally published in the Anderson Independent

There is good news and bad news for South Carolina in the school readiness report released by the child advocacy organization Save the Children.

On the plus side, thanks to a recent emphasis on expanding four-year-old programs for disadvantaged children, South Carolina ranked 15th among the states in the percentage of children attending nursery school, preschool or kindergarten. Parents in the Palmetto State also read to their children, a vital building block for learning, in greater numbers than parents in more than half of the other states, and in substantially greater numbers than our neighbors in North Carolina and Georgia.

But the report also exposes the urgency of early-education needs in South Carolina, which ranks 39th overall in preparing children for school.

Decades of studies on brain development and years of evaluating early childhood education programs prove that early, high-quality preparation for learning — the earlier, the better — is among the smartest investments a state can make. Neuroscientists believe that children’s experiences during the first three years are critical in establishing healthy cognitive and social skills, which affect learning for the rest of their lives.

Other studies have estimated that every dollar spent on early intervention returns $7 in savings because of reduced education costs in subsequent years, reduced social costs and increased productivity. As the University of Chicago’s Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman puts it, “The best evidence supports the policy prescription: invest in the very young.”

That prescription is particularly instructive for a state with the third-highest rate of single-parent households in the nation.

The challenges these children face follow them through school, where it is expensive and frequently impossible to catch them up with their peers, and from there into life.

South Carolina has made good progress in providing pre-school programs for disadvantaged four-year-olds in the wake of the court’s decision in the equity-funding lawsuit. The Child Development Education Pilot Project (CDEPP), a partnership between public schools and private child-care organizations overseen by the Office of First Steps, currently serves more than 7,000 four-year-olds in South Carolina’s poorest districts. Nearly 16,000 four-year-olds participate in pre-kindergarten programs in districts not involved in the equity lawsuit.

Still, more than 2,000 disadvantaged four-year-olds aren’t served in plaintiff districts, and nearly 14,000 lack the advantages of preschool in non-plaintiff districts.

More than most states, South Carolina is feeling the effects of an economy in turmoil. But in tough times, the smartest investments are the ones we should keep.

How can we build on our successes and overcome our weaknesses?

First, we should continue and expand pre-kindergarten programs funded through First Steps and public schools, so that every child has the chance to begin school prepared to learn. We should expand quality after-school academic enrichment programs such as those already operating in South Carolina’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers. We should invest in public and private health-care programs to ensure healthy families, including initiatives to address mental health.

And finally, we should look beyond traditional approaches and use our limited resources on innovative strategies that have been proven to work, such as the Bridges to Early Learning initiative, a groundbreaking partnership among public schools, Head Start centers and private pre-schools that is currently serving 1,260 of South Carolina’s neediest children.

Parents, non-profit organizations, the private sector and the public sector all have roles to play in changing the lives of South Carolina’s most disadvantaged children, and that, in turn, is key in changing our most disadvantaged schools. Investing our time, our efforts and our combined resources in the very young is among the most important steps we can take to ensure a prosperous and productive future for our state.

Jim Rex is South Carolina’s superintendent of education. Mark Shriver is vice president and managing director of U.S. programs for Save the Children.