Trends in ECE

Economics and ECE: Early Educators and Children Count! Nineteenth Annual Status Report on For Profit Child Care

by Edna Ranck

In the May/June 2006 issue of Exchange, efforts to provide adequate quality care 2006. the persistent topics of scarce resources and education. Economics is the study of www.ced.org/projects/prek.shtml and early childhood education appear in “the management of resources, the • The Effects of Investing in Early Education on not one, but two articles: “ECE Meets science of production, and distribution Economic Growth by William T. Dickens, Economics: The Changing World of Early of wealth.” In our nation, this creates the Isabel Sawhill, and Jeffrey Tebbs. Policy Brief Education and Care” by Gwen Morgan need to address competing issues and to #153, The Brookings Institution, April 2006. and Suzanne Helburn, and “Non Profit award scarce resources to the concerns www.brookings.edu Child Care Outlook: After 160 Years, It’s selected by the majority. Change reflects Time to Change” by Roger Neugebauer. values and the choices made frequently • An Earlier Start by Linda Jacobson describes Both articles register the frustration and cause serious discomfort. How can early the expansion of prekindergarten into the anxiety over resources that exist among childhood educators and advocates elementary school, Education Week, May 10, early educators. What is happening in change to become “economics-literate”? 2006. www.edweek.org today’s early childhood programs? The The two Exchange articles coincide with word that appears in both titles — change several recent publications on the status As Morgan and Helburn point out, the — sums up the issue. Perhaps it holds the of early childhood education. Reading economics of early childhood have been under seed of the solution. How do educators, even the executive summaries of the the spotlight for decades. Louise Stoney, a teachers, and providers manage steps that various reports and articles will provide champion of early childhood financing, writes we must take, but feel overwhelmed by? ExchangeEveryDay readers with basic in a Cornell University report, February 2004, Early educators have only just begun to information. It will not be easy to grasp “Framing Child Care as Economic Develop- understand their historical context, recog- at first, but those who persist will be ment: Lessons from the Early Studies,” nizing that what goes on in early child- rewarded with understanding: www.economicdevelopment.cce.cornell.edu, hood classrooms did not start in the 1960s that “in 2002 . . . only two states and a or even in the 20th century, but goes back • Catch ‘Em Young by James J. Heckman, handful of local governments had conducted into the 17th century in Eastern Europe. an opinion piece in The Wall Street child care economic analyses. By September Now, we must work to understand that Journal, January 10, 2006. 2003 . . . 31 studies had been completed . . . no matter how honored we are to have and more than a dozen additional studies responsibility for other people’s children, • The Economic Benefits of High-Quality were underway” (Stoney, 2004, p. 2). In we are also professionals that teach others Early Childhood Programs: What Makes conclusion, change must include our how to learn. This means that we, too, are the Difference? by Ellen Galinsky, struggles to understand new and different life-long learners, changing as we learn, Families and Work Institute, for the concepts: “Early childhood advocates are just like the children we teach and care Committee for Economic Develop- seeking ways to show that cutting child care, for. Many of us now recognize not only ment (CED): even in a poor economic climate, is the importance of history in our field, but www.ced.org/projects/prek.shtml “pennywise and pound foolish.” Studies also understand that policies and politics that quantify the economic contributions of can make us advocates for children. Now, • Taking Preschool Education Seriously as the child care industry help to make that case” we must change once again and accept an Economic Development Program: (Stoney, 2004, p. 3). the need to understand the economics of Effects on Jobs and Earnings of State early childhood. Recognizing the essential Residents Compared to Traditional Reference role of economics in our field is not the Economic Development Programs by same as understanding the financing or Timothy J. Bartik, W.E. Upjohn Stoney, L. (2004, February). Framing child care as funding of our programs. It is both Institute for Employment Research. economic development: Lessons from early studies. broader and deeper than a single budget Revised report for the Committee for Ithaca, NY: Cornell University. or even one community’s combined Economic Development (CED), March (http://economicdevelopment.cce.cornell.edu)