College of Business and Economics Poster Presentations
Title
Future Impacts of Early Education
Document Type
Student Presentation
Presentation Date
4-16-2012
Faculty Sponsor
Kelly Cobourn
Abstract
There are some states, Idaho included, that do not make preschool and kindergarten mandatory, while other states require their children of appropriate age to attend at least kindergarten, but also preschool in some cases. Generally speaking, the more education one receives, the more benefit one would expect to get in return, but there is much debate over the issue of early schooling. Numerous parents object to preschool on the basis that they believe these early years, preschool-age especially, are crucial for the mother and/or father to bond with the child. Supporters of mandatory early education claim that the increased social interaction and focused learning exponentially expand the child's ability to further their education and ultimately, their income. This study helps determine the relationship one’s enrollment in early education has on later outcomes in life.
The outcomes the study proposes to examine include, but are not limited to, obtaining a college education, higher earnings, and career fields. Due to the length of time that would need to be available for this study, the data used will be prior studies and secondary observations rather than original data. The National Education Longitudinal Study and the Perry Preschool Project will be drawn upon often as resources for the study. Additional data will come from academic journals and general audience publications. Our hypothesis is that those children that do attend kindergarten receive higher overall education, have higher incomes, and are employed in more specialized (education-substantial) career fields opposed to the one’s that went directly into first grade. This information could be useful to policy makers in general and the Board of Education in particular as they could make funding available and early education mandatory. Also, parents that are debating on whether or not to enroll their child in early education programs can make a more-educated decision that could impact the remainder of the child's life.