Investing in Early Education is Just Good Business
Date Posted: 08/18/2009
Greg Jones, retired senior vice president of State Farm Mutual Insurance Cos., a member of the California State Board of Education, chair of the California Business Roundtable, chair of California Business for Education Excellence and a director of Operation Hope Inc., cites recent research in calling for policymakers to maximize investment in early childhood education
The Rand Corp.'s California Preschool Study finds the achievement gap is evident as early as kindergarten entry, with many students coming to school without the basic social and early literacy skills they need to succeed. The persistence of these educational achievement gaps "imposes on the United States the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession," according to a new McKinsey & Co. study on the economic impact of the achievement gap in America's schools.
Read Jones' entire editorial here.