Early Childhood Education: The Missing Link in Educational Accountability

By Dr. Douglas Reeves

January 12, 2020

The second study in the past month to document the long-term outcomes of effective early childhood education was released by the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE). This particular study focused on the impact on children of low-income families, whereas the previous study addressed the multi-generational impact of early childhood education. Students who benefitted from early childhood education not only do well themselves, but over the long term, their own children had better educational, social, and economic outcomes.

It’s old news that early childhood education is one of the best investments any educational system can make, so here’s the question: Where is early childhood education in your state and local accountability system? In most places it’s a cipher, crowded out by data on elementary and secondary test scores and high-school graduation rates. That’s like having an accountability system for student health without a syllable concerning diet or exercise. We myopically focus on results without a word concerning causes.

When it comes to educational accountability, we tend to focus on what is measured. Want to focus on third-grade test scores? No problem, we’ll move our strongest kindergarten teachers to third grade because, after all, kindergarten doesn’t “count” on the accountability report. Want to focus on high-school graduation rates? No problem. We’ll divert resources into quick-fix credit recovery programs rather than address the fundamental issue that ninth graders who can’t read don’t need a nine-period day so that they can have “choices” – including the choice to fail spectacularly in the pursuit of expensive and futile curriculum options.

The failure to focus on early childhood education – perhaps the single greatest return on investment any educational system can have – is illustrative of the broader error in accountability in which we chase metrics rather than make decisions based upon value for students and communities.

Policymakers like to brag that they are “playing chess, not checkers.” That’s a false analogy, because in chess, two players start with the same number of pieces on the board and play by the same rules with options to make the same moves. Actually, they’re playing Monopoly, the zero-sum game in which some students are winners and other are losers. Except in the educational game of Monopoly, some players start the game owning real estate, most of the cash, and plenty of “get out jail free” cards. When their opponents inevitably wind up in trouble, they offer the “community chest” cards as paltry relief. If our societal goal is for all children to have the opportunity to succeed, we must provide opportunities for learning early and often. After all, owning all those hotels on Park Street and Boardwalk won’t be of much value if there is nobody left playing the game.

Challenge your local and state policymakers to measure what matters – causes, not just effects – and that includes early childhood education, not just test scores and graduation rates.

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