Quality Early Learning
High quality care and education from birth through age 5 results in higher IQ scores, higher school graduation rates and lower crime rates. Young children with high-quality experiences have also
been shown to have better vocabulary, language, math and social skills, more positive relationships with classmates, and higher scores on school-readiness assessments.
The HighScope Perry Preschool Study
, a randomized control trial, showed the long-term benefits of high-quality preschool for children from disadvantaged backgrounds,
including higher graduation rates, fewer teen pregnancies, higher median income, less dependence on government services and more.
Landmark studies of the Chicago Child-Parent Center Program
, an established early childhood intervention for
low-income children in public schools, have shown better long-term educational and social outcomes – higher rate of high school completion, more years of education completed, and lower rates of
juvenile arrest, violent arrest and school dropout.
The Abecedarian Project
, another groundbreaking research study, demonstrated the positive, long-term effects of high-quality
early care and education, including being four times more likely to graduate from college.
Parenting Education/Family Support
Parents are a child’s first teachers. Family support services promote social competencies and behaviors that contribute to parental, child and family health and development for all families.
Extensive research of Nurse-Family Partnership
, a home visitation model for first-time mothers, showed positive
effects for mother and child, including improved educational outcomes and reductions in child abuse, neglect and injuries.
Rigorous research designs have shown evidence of the effectiveness of the Parents as Teachers
home visitation model. Positive
effects on families include improved child health and development, prevention of child abuse and neglect, increased school readiness, and increased parent involvement in children’s care and education.
Healthy Families America
evaluation results from more than 20 states, including 12 randomized control trials,
demonstrate positive outcomes in the following six domains required by the federal Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program: reduced child maltreatment;
improved child health, including increased birth weight; parent-child interaction; school readiness and adjustment in 1st grade; family self-sufficiency; and, coordination of services and referrals.
Evaluation findings indicate that the Safe Babies Court Teams
is a promising approach for
promoting greater collaboration between the courts, child welfare and the community to meet the needs of very young children in foster care and to realize positive safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has declared literacy promotion to be an "essential component of pediatric care" for all children, referencing
the Reach Out and Read
model as an effective intervention to engage parents and prepare children to achieve their
potential in school and beyond. Findings show parents served by Reach Out and Read are 2.5 times more likely to read aloud to their children, start lifelong learning habits in
the home, and participation improves children’s language during the preschool years.