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By JOHN O'BRIEN

The National Week of the Young Child is April 18-24. Established by the National Association for the Education of Young Children over 30 years ago, the week provides an opportunity "to recommit ourselves to ensuring that each and every child experiences the type of early environment - at home, child care, school, and in the community - that will promote their early learning."

The mission of the week reflects more than two decades of research demonstrating the compelling benefits of quality preschool for children: children learn to cooperate, problem solve and work well with others. It also helps children develop pre-reading and math skills as well as prepare them for the routines and expectations of school.

Research has shown that society benefits when children participate in these programs through reductions in special education, increased high-school graduation rates, and lower incidents with the juvenile justice and welfare systems later in life.

In order to achieve these results, however, we must invest in early educators. Research shows that the main determinants of program quality are the education, training and compensation of the teacher. These data show that children progress further in areas such as language and math skills, social and emotional development, and later academic success when their teacher or provider has more years of college and specialized training in child development.

Well-educated early childhood educators are more effective in knowing how to guide and encourage individualized learning, how to plan appropriate activities and how to respond to children 's needs.

Teachers' educational levels are also linked to greater gains in children's early writing skills, language and math skills, relationships with peers and later academic success. Adequate wages and benefits help to ensure early educators stay in classrooms, leading to more stable environments and better outcomes for children.

Unfortunately, low wages, inadequate educational opportunities and poor working conditions have led to annual turnover rates of nearly 30 percent among Massachusetts' early educators, significantly compromising quality for children.

The average salary for a preschool teacher in Massachusetts is $22,640, one-fifth that of a tennis instructor, and 40 percent less than the average public school kindergarten teacher salary.

Massachusetts' early educators also face considerable barriers to educational advancement. A lack of coordination among local child care training programs, community colleges and four-year academic institutions has led to a hodge-podge of professional development opportunities that rarely support the development of a coherent skill set for early childhood professionals.

Fortunately, there is a proposal currently pending in Massachusetts to deliver on the promise of preschool. I am a strong supporter of An Act Establishing Early Education for All (H.1838/S.239), a bill sponsored by a bipartisan coalition of 110 legislators and developed by the Early Education for All Campaign - a group of leaders from business, labor, healthcare, religion, education and child care working in partnership with grassroots leaders, state policymakers and parents.

This bill recognizes that in order to truly prepare children to enter school "ready" to succeed, it is essential to invest in the skills of those who educate and care for them every day. The bill calls for every young child to have access to voluntary, high-quality preschool and full-day public school kindergarten within 10 years by building on the existing mixed delivery system and by creating a state-level workforce system that includes the infrastructure necessary to support the training and education of our early educators.

The Week of the Young Child serves as a call to action, and underscores the need for the Commonwealth to embark on a long-term path to ensure every young child arrives on the first day of kindergarten prepared to succeed. It also reminds us that to achieve this goal, the state must begin to plan now for a new investment in the education of young children and those who teach them.

John O'Brien is the legislative liason and former CEO of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the Early Education for All Campaign Advisory Committee.

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