Want a beat-the-odds return-on-investment? Studies show that for every dollar invested in quality preschool, we see returns ranging from seven to 16 dollars.

Students enrolled in an early learning program are more prepared for kindergarten, more likely to graduate high school, are healthier, more likely to be employed and report higher income.

They are also less likely to be repeat grades, become a teen parent, be placed in special education, involved in the juvenile justice system and commit crimes as adults.

In Washington, there are two pre-K programs, Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) and Working Connections Childcare (WCC), both of which are for low-income families. During 2010-2011, little more than half of eligible ECEAP children were served through ECEAP or WCC, leaving behind 18,600 children.

At the League of Education Voters, we know early learning is critical to our success as a state, which is why we worked to pass WaKIDS (the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills), an annual inventory to assess Kindergarten readiness being implemented in all state-funded full day kindergarten classroom and the passage of a law that elevates ECEAP to ensure that all eligible low-income children receive early learning opportunities.

During July 2011, LEV merged with the New School Foundation to collaborate with Seattle Public Schools in support of the South Shore School, a public PreK to 8th school in southeast Seattle.Want to know more about South Shore School? Visit our South Shore page.

Resources:

Full Day Kindergarten Benefits (May 2013)

A PreK-3rd Coalition: How Three School Districts Accomplished More Together Than Alone. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (March 2013)

Washington State Department of Early Learning legislative updates