Early childhood education is getting an increased amount of international attention. Recent studies have linked education in early years to improved student achievement later in life.
According to The Economist, the most recent report on the long-term effects of early childhood education, conducted by the OECD, found the following:
15-year-olds who attended pre-schools for more than a year performed better (even accounting for socioeconomic background) than those who had attended for only a year or not at all.
There is some debate over the best way to deliver education to children in the early years of their lives, but according to The Economist, it’s clear that some of the greatest successes are occurring in places like New York City where politicians are leading the way:
Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, is opening its first “cradle-to-kindergarten” school later this year for 130 under-fives from poor families, an idea copied from a similar scheme in Chicago. Pre-kindergarten enrolment has increased in New York from 40,000 a decade ago to 58,000 in 2012 and the mayor wants to add 4,000 full-day places in the most deprived areas of the city.
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