Early Childhood Education

Early Childhood Education in United States

United States

For many, the path to higher educational attainment starts with early childhood education. There is strong evidence that early childhood education leads to higher educational attainment, contributes to better health and promotes health equity. Typically, children who attend early childhood education programs have reduced special education use, teen births and teen crime, improved standardized test scores and increased high school graduation rates.

Early childhood education is cost-effective. For every $1 spent on early childhood education, there is approximately $4.19 in benefits, mainly from increased earnings. The enrollment rate for early childhood education centers at age 3 in the U.S. is approximately 40%, considerably lower than in many other developed countries.

The percentage of children ages 3-4 who enroll in early childhood education is higher among:

• White children than children of other races and ethnicities. 
• Children of employed parents than those of unemployed parents.

Head Start programs are federally funded services that promote school readiness in children from low-income families. Children participating in Head Start programs are more likely to pursue and complete higher education. 

Strategies to increase enrollment in early childhood education include: 

• Developing more funding sources for early childhood education that could provide coverage for disadvantaged children. 
• Focusing on performance and outcome assessment to improve the effectiveness of programs.
• Providing more direct federal or state subsidies other than tax credits.
• Ensuring effective use of funding for early childhood education by conducting cost-effectiveness analysis.

The Community Preventive Services Task Force recommends implementing high-quality, center-based early childhood education programs. These programs promote health equity and are associated with narrower educational achievement gaps, especially for children in low-income or racial/ethnic minority communities.

A 2022 National Council on State Legislatures report provides a summary of early childhood education legislation enacted at the state level. The report addresses four primary areas: child care subsidies and quality, workforce development, governance and school readiness. It also reviews paid family and medical leave legislation, home visiting programs and mental health.

Healthy People 2030 has an objective to increase the proportion of children who participate in high-quality early childhood education programs.

Barnett, W. Steven, and Jason T. Hustedt. 2011. “Improving Public Financing for Early Learning Programs.” Preschool Policy Brief Issue 23. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research. https://nieer.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/24-1.pdf.

Hahn, Robert A., W. Steven Barnett, John A. Knopf, Benedict I. Truman, Robert L. Johnson, Jonathan E. Fielding, Carles Muntaner, Camara Phyllis Jones, Mindy T. Fullilove, and Pete C. Hunt. 2016. “Early Childhood Education to Promote Health Equity: A Community Guide Systematic Review.” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 22 (5): E1–8. https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000378.

OECD. 2017. Starting Strong 2017: Key OECD Indicators on Early Childhood Education and Care. Starting Strong. OECD. https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264276116-en.

Ramon, Ismaila, Sajal K. Chattopadhyay, W. Steven Barnett, Robert A. Hahn, and The Community Preventive Services Task Force. 2018. “Early Childhood Education to Promote Health Equity: A Community Guide Economic Review.” Journal of Public Health Management and Practice 24 (1). https://doi.org/10.1097/PHH.0000000000000557.