State Fact Sheets

Quick two-page fact sheets

Early Education News

America's law enforcement leaders work everyday to put dangerous, violent criminals behind bars. From years on the front line fighting crime, police chiefs, sheriffs and prosecutors know that we can beat back crime by investing in pre-kindergarten, Head Start and educational childcare that keep kids from becoming criminals in the first place. The evidence is in. Quality early education readies kids to learn, reinforces respect and responsibility for others and reduces behavior problems that can spiral out of control. Research shows that at-risk children left out of quality pre-kindergarten are five times more likely to grow up to become criminals by age 27 than children in pre-kindergarten. Quality pre-kindergarten also saves $17 for every $1 invested. Yet, due to underfunding, only half of eligible kids get Head Start and one out of seven working families receive child care help.

Reports

All Fight Crime: Invest in Kids reports on Pre-K, early education, child care and Head Start:

"You have to have a community that sees the value in putting money into our kids. We need leaders who can see that the outcome will be to have more productive citizens, which will cost us less in the end. However, most community leaders are unwilling to do this. They are unwilling to put the money up-front to help save these children."

-Richard Paul, Retired Chief, Gillette, Wyoming

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• Head Start narrows the literary skills gap by nearly half between children in poverty and all U.S. children.
• Eight out of 10 kindergarten teachers polled say that poorly prepared kids that didn't attend pre-kindergarten negatively impact well-prepared kids.