A new report shows that children who attended a high-quality early education program were more likely to graduate high school and less likely to land in jail 25 years later, and those who spent the longest time at the school had even better results.

In one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, researchers followed 1,400 students – 957 from the well-regarded Child-Parent Center Education Program and 529 from a control group. A quarter of a century after enrolling in the center, 28 percent fewer had been incarcerated and 22 percent fewer had been arrested for a felony, compared to the control group, the study found.

Researchers also reported:

• 9 percent more completed high school.
• 20 percent more achieved moderate or higher level of socioeconomic status.
•  19 percent more carried some level of health insurance coverage.
•  28 percent fewer abused drugs and alcohol.

Source: “Large-scale early education linked to higher living standards and crime prevention 25 years later.” 6/9/2.

Other studies have found similar benefits, but perhaps the most interesting aspect of this research is that students who spent four to six years at the Child-Parent Center – a time roughly equivalent to PreK-3rd – had even better results. For example, among students who attended the program from preschool to third grade, 55 percent graduated from high school on time and 36 percent fewer had been arrested for some type of violence, compared to members of a control who spent less than four years at the program.

“It’s important to recognize that this is research on a program that still exists in some form today. This isn’t just a boutique, once-upon-a-time program. It is embedded in one of the largest school systems in the country,” Lisa Guernsey, who is director of the Early Education Initiative at the Washington, D.C.-based New America Foundation, wrote in an email.

Unfortunately, the program has seen its funding cut over the years, according to Guernsey.

“You’d think that policymakers would want to replicate this, not weaken it,” she added.

Another reason to boost funding for this type of work is that half of the achievement gap that exists between poor and wealthier children at age ten is already there by age five, according to Arthur Reynolds, one of the leaders of the study and co-director of the Human Capital Research Collaborative.

“Unfortunately, we still spend very little on prevention,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Only 3 percent of the $14 billion dollars allocated to school districts to serve low-income children under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act [No Child Left Behind] goes to preschool. Yet preschool programs are one of the most cost-effective of all social programs.”

Why did this program succeed? The study’s authors say key elements include:

• The opportunity for more than one year of participation and...continuity of learning from preschool to the early school grades.
•  Small classes.
• Comprehensive family services.
• Structured activity-based curricula focusing on language and literacy.

Check it out.