The Importance of the First Five Years: Katharine Stevens’ Testimony on Capitol Hill
By Katharine B. Stevens
BLOG
July 19, 2017
Early childhood is a growing focus of local, state, and federal policymakers because the preschool years from birth to age five are increasingly recognized as laying the critical foundation for everything that follows. Indeed, early childhood programs target the very foundation of educational opportunity, helping children get a strong start rather than trying to fix costly, ever-worsening problems down the line.
The federal government has a crucial role in advancing better early care and education, especially for the most vulnerable children. But education is fundamentally a responsibility of the states. And currently, less than 2% of state expenditures on the care and education of children from birth to age 18 is directed to their foundational early years.
As I testified last week at a hearing on “Opportunities for State Leadership of Early Childhood Programs,” held by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, that’s why the most important federal role now is to promote state leadership in this vital policy area. Federal policymakers must find new ways to leverage growing state commitment to early childhood, incentivize state innovation, and highlight strategies and activities of currently leading states, particularly around supporting lower-income families by improving access to high-quality childcare.
Below is my testimony:
Chairman Rokita, Ranking Member Polis, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for convening today’s hearing on opportunities for state leadership of early childhood programs.
My name is Katharine Stevens, and I’m a resident scholar in Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where I lead AEI’s early childhood program. My research is focused on the science of brain development and its implications for early care and education policy, especially the role of early learning in expanding opportunity for low-income Americans. The views I offer today are mine alone.
Before my current position at AEI, I worked for nine years in higher education, followed by 15 years in K–12 school reform. And having worked at every level of the education continuum, I have come to believe that early childhood is perhaps the most exciting and crucial area of US domestic policy. So it is a special honor for me to testify before the subcommittee today on this topic.
As is now widely known, a growing body of scientific research has established that the first five years of life are the most crucial period of human development. What we also know is that the education process is cumulative: Each stage builds on the prior one. And research shows that in fact gaps between higher- and lower-income children emerge long before children start school. Many children enter school unprepared to succeed and research shows that schooling largely does not close those initial gaps.
Improving the well-being of America’s youngest, most vulnerable children is crucial to both their life chances and our nation’s future. Yet even as science underscores the importance of early childhood, federal policy has lagged behind. Since 1935, the federal government has supported early care and education for poor children, and still has a critical role. But the policymaking legacy of the past 80 years has left us with two core problems.
The first problem is that integrating disparate federal funding streams to best serve children and families at the state and local levels is difficult at best and often impossible. Not all states are equally committed to improving early care and education. But those that are working hard to do so find their efforts hampered by current federal policy.
The second problem is that federal programs strongly reflect the commonly-made, but false distinction between “childcare” and “early education.” Research has established that young children are continuously and rapidly learning, wherever they are and from whomever they’re with, starting at birth. We’ve long thought of “school” as where children learn, but the reality is that every environment — whether home, school, or childcare — is a learning environment for young children.
In fact, childcare is unique among early childhood programs precisely because it serves multiple purposes. By promoting the complementary aims of adult responsibility and self-sufficiency on the one hand, and healthy child development on the other, child care offers a valuable strategy for two-generation human capital development in America’s most disadvantaged communities.
We know that family and child well-being are inextricably linked. Indeed, today’s early care and education programs must have two purposes: supporting parents’ work in a 24/7 economy and advancing children’s healthy growth and learning during the most crucial period of human development. But current federal policy fails to realize the significant potential of this dual-generation approach to help children and their parents move ahead at the same time.
Federal early childhood programs still play a key role in addressing inequality of opportunity and lack of economic mobility for disadvantaged children. But the context has changed enormously since our major federal early childhood programs were first put into place. Unlike a half century ago, today, the strongest leadership in early childhood is emerging from forward-looking states.
The best path now for federal policy is to build on this growing state momentum by identifying, supporting, and highlighting the work of leading, innovative states. Our goal should be to amplify the impact of currently-siloed programs, aiming to build states’ capacity to support low-income working families and give America’s most vulnerable young children the strong start they need to thrive.
In closing, I appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony before this committee on such an important topic. I look forward to your questions.
FEDERAL POLICY EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION ECONOMIC MOBILITY CHILDCARE
See Also
Report ~ June 21, 2017
Video ~ January 25, 2018
Op-Ed ~ January 12, 2017