Why is Early Childhood Education Important?

Cognitively:

• Improves school performance
• Raises math and language abilities
• Sharpens thinking/attention skills
• Reduces special education placement
• Lowers school drop out rates

Socially and emotionally:

• Improves and strengthen interactions with peers
• Decreases problem behaviors
• Encourages more exploratory behavior
• Helps adjustment to the demands of formal schooling

Long-term positive results and cost savings of Early Childhood Education:

• Increases lifelong earning potential
• Achieves better academic outcomes
• Lowers rates of teen pregnancy and incarceration
• Improves recruitment and retention of parents who work
  
  
  
  
  
  Did you know that the capacity of the brain to absorb new learning peaks at age 3? Scientists have learned that a toddler’s brain develops over one hundred trillion brain synapses. A brain synapse is the "wiring" between two brain cells that grasps new learning. The more the synapses, the more your brain will learn! It is during this time that the human brain has the highest potential for new learning in its lifetime. Recognizing shapes, drawing, singing and playing with toys are all examples of behaviors your child learns in the first few years of life. By their third birthday, your child should be able to do many things, including throw a ball overhand, feed themselves, ride a tricycle, balance on one foot or copy a circle, just to name a few. And by age 4, your child will begin knowing their first and last name, following family rules, recognizing colors, eating by themselves, dressing themselves, etc.