Too many needy children enter the first grade far behind their better-off peers in the race that is life. To narrow this gap, state and local policies should stress early childhood education…

Decades of study have led educators to this consensus: When aimed at kids from lower-income families, quality early childhood education boosts academic attainment, high school graduation rates, college attendance and future wages, and it reduces truancy, crime and teenage pregnancies.

Economists conclude that society gets a big return on its investment in such education. And biologists have chimed in, citing brain research that reinforces the value of early education - even prior to age 3, when four-fifths of a child’s brain is already developed…

The federal government should expand Head Start, which must stress education. The knock on the program is that some agencies that run it don’t put enough emphasis on academics. An expanded program won’t come close to meeting all the state’s needs, though, and besides, in America, education is traditionally a state responsibility…

Early childhood education is crucial for children from lower-income families, who otherwise tend to fall behind their better-off peers early and stay behind. Of course, there are exceptions to that rule: children who grow up in homes poor in money but rich in literacy.

Overall, though, the achievement gap is correlated to income. Children from middle-income families with well-educated parents know about 12,000 words in the third grade. Children from poor families with uneducated parents know about 4,000 words.

A newborn arrives with some 100 billion brain cells, or neurons, which connect with each other like wildfire during the early months. The more connections, the higher the brain voltage…

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=635858