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One: Left Behind Long Before Entering the Classroom
Every year nearly 4 million children are born in this country. Five years later, they are enrolled in our public schools where they will learn to read, write, add and subtract. Research shows that roughly 1 in 12 of these 4 million students will receive special education services and nearly 125,000 of them will need help learning English. By the time they reach the fourth grade, approximately 30% of them will only be reading at the most basic level. But what happens to these children before they reach kindergarten? What services are provided to them during the first five years of life—the most important years for a child's cognitive and social-emotional development? To answer these questions, demographer Harold Hodgkinson collected data on the state of children and childcare in the United States in a report entitled Leaving Too Many Children Behind. According to his research, the U.S. is one of the only countries in the developed world that lacks a system for providing high quality early childhood care to all its young citizens. In those crucial first five years, a child's experiences can either impede or encourage their growth and development. For many of our nation's children, Hodgkinson claims, the forces they have encountered in their first years of life have already placed them far below their peers developmentally. These children are left behind long before they ever enter a classroom. So what are factors affecting our youngest children? Hodgkinson examined 2000 Census data to get a picture of the "Children's Class of 2000" and found that at birth these children already face many risk factors. Of the approximately 4 million children born in 2000:
These statistics reflect many of the factors that are linked with poor adult outcomes including: infant and child mortality, low birth weight, single parents, teen mothers, lack of access to health care, and transience. Yet the most influential of risk factors tied to poor adult outcomes is poverty. Nearly all the other risk factors identified are related to poverty. A child raised by a single mother is 2 to 3 times as likely to be poor as one raised by both parents. Having a teen mother almost guarantees that a child will grow up in poverty. Children born to immigrant parents are much more likely to be poor, as well as more likely to have problems with English, have health-risk factors and have issues with their educational development. According to data gathered by Hodgkinson, in 2000, there were 14 million children birth to 18 living in poverty in the United States. These children are far more likely to encounter barriers to their success in their future. However, there are ways that we can help children overcome some of these obstacles. A study in Ypsilanti, Michigan found significant differences between low-income children who had been enrolled in a pre-school program and children not enrolled in a program. At age 27:
Researchers in Chicago found similar results when examining students from the Chicago Child-Parent Center Program. Each of these studies emphasizes the benefits of high quality child care in conjunction with parental involvement, and a focus on cognitive, social and emotional development — similar to Head Start. While programs like Head Start and Early Head Start have been successful, they are only able to reach a small percentage of the needy population each year, 905,000 and 55,000 respectively. That means that less than 50% of eligible children are enrolled in Head Start and only about 5% of eligible infants are enrolled in Early Head Start. For the programs serving the remaining 4 million children birth to age four, it is more difficult to ensure the same levels of quality that are found in Head Start programs, and therefore the same benefits to children. Without standards and a national reporting system it is hard to know whether all children are being screened for health and developmental concerns in the same way. This lack of nationwide standards is a significant hurdle to overcome when improving quality of care and education. Hodgkinson does point out that many states have begun to address this issue by implementing their own universal pre-school programs and integrating them with elementary schools. In Georgia, for example, the pre-school program is funded by lottery sales and is open to all, not just low-income children. Other states are following Georgia's lead and beginning to investigate the benefits of providing pre-school for all children. Nearly every state in America has funded some type of pre-k program. However, of the 44 states providing pre-k programs, only a quarter of them contribute significant funds to support the programs. Because of this, Hodgkinson gives the U.S. an "F" for failing to fully support preschool programs. While he acknowledges that providing universal child care is much more complicated in the United States than it is in Europe, he chastises the "wealthiest nation in the world" for investing "such a pitifully small percentage of our resources and our concern in the early years of...our children" In Hodgkinson's view, the blueprints for providing high quality early childhood care already exist. To that end, he closes his report with suggestions for local, state and national leaders:
Hodgkinson maintains that taking these steps can help make sure that the Children's Classes of the future don't get left behind. Source: Leaving Too Many Children Behind, A Demographer's View on the Neglect of America's Youngest Children, H.L. Hodgkinson, Institute for Educational Leadership, April 2003 Facts in Action, November/December 2003 |
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