The InformED Report for January 15, 2017 looked at early education and why it pays off for children long after preschool. The edition covered a 13-year study reported by MindShift, a call from Save the Children for more early years support in Scotland, and the passage of Proposition 58, which reopened the door to bilingual education in California public schools.
The three stories shared a common thread. Each one concerned what happens to children before and during their first years of formal schooling, and each raised practical questions for district leaders about how early learning and language support are funded, staffed and offered.
In this edition
- A 13-year study reported by MindShift found that children in quality early education programs had higher test scores all the way through eighth grade.
- Save the Children reported that 46 percent of the primary one teachers it surveyed in Scotland said some pupils struggle to understand simple instructions.
- California voters approved Proposition 58 with 72.6 percent of the vote, allowing public schools to offer bilingual education again.
What does a 13-year study say about early education?
MindShift wrote about a 13-year study that examined the value of early education programs over time. According to the research, the years as early as preschool play a major role in later academic success. Young children who took part in quality programs had higher test scores, and the advantage was still visible in eighth grade rather than fading in the first years of elementary school.
The finding matters because a common objection to early education spending is that its benefits wash out by the middle grades. A result that holds through eighth grade gives district and state leaders a stronger basis for treating preschool as part of the K-12 pipeline rather than as a separate service. The word “quality” carries weight in the finding, however. The benefits were tied to programs that met a standard, which means staffing, training and curriculum decisions shape the return as much as access does.
Scotland: poverty and the early years
The picture is not the same everywhere, inside or outside the United States. In Scotland, Save the Children called on the Scottish government to boost resources for early education. The charity surveyed 100 primary one teachers. Of those, 46 percent said some pupils struggle to understand simple instructions, 84 percent said children with delayed development can struggle to concentrate in class, and 88 percent said pupils with speech and language problems fall behind their peers.
Save the Children asked for more teachers working in nurseries and more staff with specialist training in speech and language development. Vicky Crichton, the charity’s policy manager in Scotland, said that poverty is damaging too many children’s learning before they have even set foot in a classroom. The charity’s research found that children in poorer communities were twice as likely to have these problems as children in the least deprived areas. For school leaders, the survey is a reminder that gaps in language often arrive at the school door already formed, and that the first year of school is where they are first measured.
Bilingual education returns to California
EdSource reported that on Election Day, 72.6 percent of California voters approved Proposition 58, a measure that brings bilingual education back to public schools. The vote carried all 58 counties and effectively set aside Proposition 227, the 1998 initiative that had required most English learners to be taught in English.
While many educators welcomed the result, some warned that the work was only beginning. As the Los Angeles Times noted, Proposition 58 does not technically require anything. Districts now have the option to start bilingual programs, but none is obliged to. That choice matters for the roughly 1.2 million Spanish-speaking students in English learning programs across California. For district leaders, the measure moved the decision from the ballot to the local level, which means program design, bilingual teacher recruitment and parent outreach became questions each district has to answer for itself.
Sources
- “Calls for early years education funding amid poverty warning,” STV News, November 21, 2016.
- “Bilingual education vote in California another shift from bitter 1990s conflicts,” EdSource, November 14, 2016.
About the InformED Report
The InformED Report is edCircuit’s short news program on education. This edition first ran on January 15, 2017. In 2026, edCircuit re-presented it with a new anchor and this full written account. Both report the stories as they stood on that date and link the original reporting, so readers can see exactly where each claim came from.
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