Overlooked Benefits of Prekindergarten

Numerous studies have shown that high-quality prekindergarten programs can place children on a positive lifetime trajectory. Not only do they better prepare them for school, they increase their chances of academic success and their job prospects. This in turn enables them to be financially independent and avoid welfare and crime, since they have better alternatives. Yet, these are not the only positive impacts of a high-quality preschool experience. There are other, often-overlooked, benefits that extend to numerous aspects of a person’s life and can have impacts on their parents and their own children as well.

Studies of several early childhood interventions, including the High/Scope Perry Preschool Program, Abecedarian Project, Chicago Child-Parent Centers, and Parent Child Development Centers, demonstrate that children who participate in a quality early childhood education experience benefit in ways that go beyond the positive outcomes commonly emphasized. These studies suggest that prekindergarten can:

• Strengthen commitment to and attitude toward school.
• Lead participants to take better care of their health throughout their lives.
• Start children on the path to financial stability and independence.
• Increase the likelihood that mothers of participating children get good jobs.
• Enhance the parenting skills of participants’ parents.
• Produce positive effects that extend into future generations.