Capitalists for Preschool

Children who attend high-quality preschool do much better when they arrive in kindergarten, and this makes an enormous difference for their later success.

IN his State of the Union address, President Obama called for making preschool available to every 4-year-old in America, opening a welcome discussion on whether and how to make the investments needed to realize this vision.

As two longtime corporate executives who have been engaged in education for decades, we have no doubt about the answer to this question. Children who attend high-quality preschool do much better when they arrive in kindergarten, and this makes an enormous difference for their later success. The data on preschool is overwhelmingly positive. Although some studies suggest that the positive impact decreases over time, this is mainly attributable to differences in the quality of preschool and of the schooling that follows — not a deficiency in preschool itself.

By JOHN E. PEPPER Jr. and JAMES M. ZIMMERMAN

Full Story: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/02/opinion/the-business-case-for-early-childhood-education.html?_r=0