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One year of quality early education benefits low-income toddlers, infants
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Children from low-income families who attended a high-quality early education program developed better language and social skills compared with those who did not attend, according to recent findings.
“Our results are important because they offer more evidence that providing enriching experiences early in life can set children from low-income families on more productive paths,” Noreen Yazejian, PhD, from the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in the press release.
Educare, an early education program for children aged 6 weeks to 5 years, aims to reduce the achievement gap between children from low-income families and those from higher income families. Yazejian and colleagues randomly selected 239 primarily minority children aged 6 weeks to 19 months from low-income families to either attend or not attend Educare at five U.S. schools. Researchers measured the children’s language, social and emotional skills, and observed them playing with their primary caregiver to examine the differences after 1 year of program participation.
The results showed that infants and toddlers who attended the program had improved listening and language skills, fewer parent-reported behavioral problems and more positive parent-child interactions. The differences observed between children enrolled in Educare and those not enrolled were greater compared with results previously seen in similar studies, suggesting that enrolling low-income children in a comprehensive early education program can improve outcomes. The researchers will continue to monitor the children’s development through age 5 years, then will evaluate their academic skills to predict later achievement in school.
Although the higher cost of the Educare program may be a concern for parents, the researchers believe it may be necessary.
“Given the persistence of the achievement gap and its many negative consequences, it seems overly optimistic to expect an easy or inexpensive immediate solution,” Yazejian said in the release. – by Savannah Demko
Disclosure: Infectious Diseases in Children was unable to confirm any relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.
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