High-quality preschool programs starting at birth have bigge

CHICAGO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- High-quality preschool programs starting at birth have a larger return on investment and provide greater economic and social gains than previously thought, according to a new study released Monday.

The study, entitled "The Life-Cycle Benefits of an Influential Early Childhood Program" and co-authored by Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman, focused on the impact of high-quality public preschool programs on disadvantaged children over time, such as health, the quality of life, participation in crime, labor income, IQ, and schooling.

The study showed that high-quality birth-to-five programs for disadvantaged children, starting eight weeks after birth, can deliver a 13-percent per-year return on investment in the form of earnings gains, health benefits, tax dollars saved on welfare and criminal justice spending -- a rate substantially higher than the 7-10 percent return on programs serving 3- to 4-year-old children.

These disadvantaged children usually have higher IQs and better health, as well as a higher chance of graduating from high school and staying out of prison, according to the study.

The study analyzed the effects of two identical and randomized-controlled preschool experiments conducted in North Carolina in the 1970s that have long-term follow-ups through around age 35.

Although the costs of comprehensive early childhood education are high -- around 18,500 U.S. dollars per year for each child enrolled, these programs nevertheless deliver a societal benefit of 6.30 U.S. dollars for every dollar spent on the high-quality program, the study showed.

In order to deal with growing child poverty in the United States, more investment should be made in high-quality birth-to-five early childhood programs, to provide a powerful and cost-effective way to ease their negative consequences on child development and adult opportunity, the study suggested.