Early education linked to post-secondary qualifications

Early childhood education can multiply disadvantaged kids’ prospects of obtaining post-school qualifications.

Early childhood education can multiply disadvantaged kids’ prospects of obtaining post-school qualifications.

Targeted early childhood education can multiply disadvantaged kids’ prospects of obtaining post-secondary qualifications, new US research suggests.

An analysis by the University of Minnesota has found that intensive maths and literacy tutoring at pre-school can boost children’s chances of earning degrees by 41 per cent.

And if the intervention is continued into the second or third grade, the odds of securing bachelor-level qualifications improve by almost three-quarters.

The research, reported in the journal JAMA Paediatrics, crunched data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study, one of America’s longest-running follow-ups of early childhood intervention.

It tracked the progress of almost 1000 graduates of the “child-parent centres” program, which offers intensive instruction to kids from low-income neighbourhoods.

Three decades later, 11 per cent had bachelor degrees and 4.2 per cent boasted master’s credentials. This compared with rates of 7.8 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively among the 550 disadvantaged students who had not participated in the program.

“This report provides concrete, compelling evidence that investments in early childhood education pay dividends for decades,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. It follows earlier studies that found positive social outcomes.