Early Childhood Education Matters

If there’s one thing Little Sunshine’s Playhouse® wants to shout from the rooftops, it’s that early childhood education matters!

But it’s true! A groundbreaking study comparing children who attended and did not attend preschool found some amazing differences that carried over into their adult lives. Here’s what they found:

• High school graduation rate : 77% for the program group vs. 60% those who didn’t attend preschool
• Employment: 76% vs. 62%
• Home ownership: 37% vs. 28%
• Car ownership: 82% vs. 60%
• Have a savings account: 76% vs. 50%

A separate study compared kids in high-quality preschools to those who went to typical preschool programs. Here are some of the results:

• Four-year college graduation: 51% for the high-quality group vs. 44% for comparison group
• College attendance: 61.2% vs. 53.1%
• Associate’s degree or higher: 15.7% vs. 10.7%
• Master’s degree or higher: 4.2% vs. 1.5%
• Bachelor’s degree: 14.3% vs. 8.2%
• Any postsecondary credentials: 25% vs. 18.1%

Harvard researchers agree with the benefits of early childhood education (ECE), and experts in neuroscience and medicine are bringing attention to the vital importance of ECE.

Obviously, any kind of early childhood education is important. But the quality of that education matters, too. 

And if it’s one thing we know, it’s quality education.

Little Sunshine’s Playhouse supports development of the whole child through our Creatively Shine™ curriculum, which is inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy. We also carefully screen and recruit qualified teachers who engage students with hands-on activities that promote cognitive, social, emotional, physical and language skills.

This is something we really love (can you tell?), so check out these other posts we’ve made on early childhood education:

• A must-read on brain development.
• An earlier post about why ECE is important. 
• Still have questions about ECE? We have an FAQ for that. 

Choosing which preschool to send your child to is a big decision. If you have any other questions about your infant or toddler’s education that we don’t cover here, don’t hesitate to contact us so we can talk to you through email, over the phone, or in person.