Early Childhood Programming has to be a Priority

The research regarding the value of quality early childhood services is undisputed. First Five Nebraska estimates that there are over 62,000 Nebraska children ages 0-5 who are at risk of failing in school because of lack of early childhood programming opportunities. Achievement gaps don’t begin in kindergarten.

● The development of the brain in the first five years literally shapes the learning capacity for the rest of a child's life.
● The first five years of life are a time unlike any other in the development of the human mind. During this brief period, a child's brain creates and conditions synaptic connections at an astonishing rate as it prepares itself for a lifetime of learning and growth. The relationships and experiences a child shares with its parents and caregivers in the earliest years are crucial to the acquisition of communication and reasoning skills, the capacity to regulate emotions and behaviors, and the development of self-confidence and motivation for learning and achievement.
● As children grow older, their capacity to learn continues - but they will never have quite the same opportunity to lay such crucial neurological foundations again.
● Forty-one percent of our youngest children are subject to risk factors that threaten their ability to thrive in school and beyond. These children can be found in every county throughout the state, and although the greatest concentrations occur in metropolitan areas, Nebraska's rural counties are showing the greatest increase in their at-risk populations of children 0 to 5 years of age.
● On the whole, positive, supportive and stimulating early learning experiences and environments benefit not just the children themselves, but society in general.
o In fact, Nobel Prize-winning economist James J. Heckman calculates that high quality early childhood experiences can yield $7 for every $1 invested.
o Yet, Nebraska’s investment in early childhood continues to lag far behind what we spend each year on SPED, behavioral health, corrections and public assistance. Children who enter Kindergarten lacking the cognitive skills of their peers are likely to lag behind for the rest of their time in the K-12 system, despite the availability of costly special education programs.
● Children who are limited in their ability to regulate their emotions and make intelligent social decisions are more likely to require behavioral health services and enter the criminal justice system later in life.

The time is right for our great state to make a renewed commitment to quality early childhood programming for all Nebraska children. Partnerships with organizations like First Five Nebraska, UNL and Dr. Sam Meisels, Sixpence, as well as numerous other public and private organizations can help create a world class educational system in Nebraska.

We believe:
● Expanded early childhood programming will be an effective use of limited educational dollars resulting in improved academic performance, higher graduation and lower dropout rates and improved social behavior.
● Expanded early childhood programming will assist in stimulating the state's economy by attracting businesses to an area with skilled labor and a supportive family environment.
● Quality early childhood programs require quality teachers using researched based curriculum which must demonstrate positive results via accountability systems.