Preschool for All: The Path to America’s Middle-Class Promise

By ARNE DUNCAN, U.S. Secretary of Education, and KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

In his January 8, 1964, State of the Union address announcing the War on Poverty, President Lyndon B. Johnson pledged that his administration would bring opportunity to Americans living on what he called “the outskirts of hope.”

Head Start was one of the many efforts President Johnson spearheaded as a result of this pledge. Since its creation, Head Start has helped to change the lives of more than 30 million children and their families. By helping children build a strong foundation for school and providing parents with valuable tools and resources, Head Start can help set the stage for success.

Yet we must do more to ensure that all Americans have an equal chance at success. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama spoke forcefully about America’s basic bargain. “People who work hard and shoulder their responsibilities should be able to join a thriving middle class,” the president said. “Restoring that bargain is the unfinished work of our generation.”¹

Imagine striving to do your best, day after day, shadowed by the fear that your child is missing out on the fundamentals needed to succeed in life. Imagine the sacrifices and soul-searching involved in making trade-offs and compromises in the care of your child—whether that means leaving your job to provide home care yourself or seeking care that may carry a steep cost or dubious quality. How would these decisions affect your monthly budget, your ability to perform well at work, and your efforts to keep your family afloat and secure?

These concerns are all too real for many American families—including millions of working mothers.

Study after study confirms that young children who experience secure, stimulating environments with rich learning opportunities from an early age are better prepared to thrive in school. Indeed, both of us have watched our own children expand their worlds and minds in the years before they entered school, both at home and in quality early learning settings.

But we are lucky. Fewer than 3 in 10 American 4-year-olds attend high-quality preschool programs.² And the availability of high-quality care and educational services for infants and toddlers is even lower.

The gap is especially pronounced in low-income communities, and it carries a high cost. Children from disadvantaged families start kindergarten an average of 12 to 14 months behind their peers in both language development and prereading.³ The first rung on the ladder to success is missing for millions of children, because they miss out on the early learning opportunities that would prepare them to do well in school.

The Obama administration is committed to closing this costly, unfair opportunity gap through a plan that, in partnership with the states, will expand high-quality early learning services for children from birth through age 5, including high-quality preschool for every 4-year-old in America.

Strong early learning can translate into more school success, which in turn can lead to college, good employment, and ultimately a robust economy. Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman found that every public dollar spent on high-quality early childhood education returns $7 through increased productivity and savings on public assistance and criminal justice programs.⁴

The benefits of high-quality early learning for children are clear. But their mothers and families can benefit, too.

Child care expenses for families with working mothers can range from 20 percent to nearly 50 percent of that mother’s monthly salary.⁵ The costs are especially high for single mothers. The prohibitively high cost of child care can lead many women to put off pursuing their own educational and career goals—goals that would be critical to supporting their families.

International studies show that free or subsidized child care can increase women’s participation in the workforce.⁶ In the United States, single mothers are nearly 50 percent more likely to still be employed after three years if they receive at least some child care subsidy.⁷

President Obama understands what it’s like for families with parents who struggle to care for young children, make a living, and pursue their own education. He has spoken about how hard his single mother and grandparents worked to raise him. He also understands that when we give children a strong start in high-quality, free, or subsidized early learning programs, we help parents balance their many responsibilities in ways that promote stability in their homes, careers, and finances.

As a nation, we can’t afford not to make this investment.

The president’s plan will:

• Make voluntary, universal, high-quality preschool available to 4-year-olds from low- and moderate-income families through a partnership with states, territories, and the Bureau of Indian Education, while creating incentives to expand these preschool programs for additional children from middle-class families and to provide full-day kindergarten. This new partnership would encourage states to cover all families who want to send their children to high-quality preschools with small class sizes, qualified teachers, and stimulating learning experiences.
• Launch a new Early Head Start-Child Care partnership to significantly expand the availability of high-quality early learning opportunities for children from birth to age 3.
• Expand highly effective, voluntary home-visiting programs where nurses, family educators, and social workers connect low-income families to health, social, and educational support through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program created under the Affordable Care Act.

These actions build on steps the administration has already taken to boost early learning for our most vulnerable children. Our efforts have ranged from improving the accountability and quality of Head Start services, to nearly $1 billion in total funding for the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant program, which aims at improving the quality and effectiveness of early learning and development programs around the country.

As we move forward with this vital effort, we can look to states that have shown the way. In Michigan and Massachusetts, Govs. Rick Snyder (R-MI) and Deval Patrick (D-MA) have made expanding access to preschool programs a priority. In Alabama, Gov. Robert Bentley (R) has proposed new resources to rapidly expand early education.⁸ These leaders represent a bipartisan consensus that America can’t win the race for the future by holding back children at the starting line.

And it’s not only state officials who are investing in high-quality preschool. Voters from both political parties in cities such as Denver, San Antonio, and St. Paul are approving tax increases to support preschool initiatives.⁹

In the decades since President Johnson’s call to action, the evidence that high-quality early learning works has multiplied many times over.

Other high-performing countries recognize the value of early learning and have rapidly expanded their early childhood education programs. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reports that the United States now ranks 28th among developed countries in its enrollment of 4-year-olds in early learning programs.¹⁰ By contrast, Japan—which has outperformed the United States in recent international assessments—enrolls nearly 100 percent of its 4-year-olds in preschool. Other countries have made early education available at even younger ages.

If we don’t act, we risk falling even further behind the rest of the world in preparing our children for school. We risk failing to support the parents who need this help to give their children a strong start in life.

Early childhood education is one of the best investments we can make in America’s future. Now is the time to redouble our efforts and complete our unfinished work. It’s time to answer the call that President Johnson sounded half a century ago to help families move from the outskirts of hope into the heart of a thriving middle class.

Doing right by our youngest children and our hardworking families—including our nation’s heroic working moms—is essential to fulfilling the promise of the American Dream. We are proud to be working together to make this happen.

Portions of this essay have appeared in previously published works by the authors.