| ELECTION YEAR 2012 |
| Make Young Children a Priority |
| Securing a bright future for young children secures a bright future for Massachusetts. Preparing young children to become productive, engaged adults is good for children, families and taxpayers. |
| |
| As a Voter |
 VOTE! Make sure you vote in the Thursday, September 6, primary and the Tuesday, November 6, general election. Not sure where to vote? See where. The deadline to register to vote in the general election is October 17. |
| Learn about the candidates in Massachusetts and for president and about their education platforms. |
| Stay current. Follow early education news by joining our e-mail list and reading our Eye on Early Education blog. |
| Enagage Candidates |
| Speak up! Ask questions and engage candidates in conversation about prioritizing young children. View some sample questions to ask the candidates. |
| Enagage Your Community |
| Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper urging candidates to prioritize young children in the election. Contact Irene Sege, SFC's communications director, for assistance. |
| |
| As a Candidate |
| Be a Champion for Young Children |
| Children are born learning Make sure your education platform supports young children and families by including high-quality early education and care and third grade reading proficiency. |
| Learn more about the research and data about children and families in your communities. For more information contact Titus DosRemedios, SFC's senior research and policy associate. |
| Understand the progress made in early education and care in Massachusetts. |
| Stay current. Follow early education news by joining our e-mail list and reading our Eye on Early Education blog. |
| Include early education and young children in your education platform. |
| |
| Background |
| The Challenge |
| Massachusetts is recognized as a national leader in education, but below the surface there is a crisis: |
Statewide, 39% of third graders read below grade level, including 60% of third graders from low-income families. |
| Children who do not read proficiently by the end of third grade are four times less likely to graduate from high school by age 19 than proficient readers. |
| In Massachusetts, the average high school dropout costs $349,000 more over a lifetime than the average graduate in reduced tax revenues and increased social costs. |
| Our achievement gaps are among the largest in the nation, and they take root in early childhood. |
| By age 3, children in low-income families have vocabularies that, on average, are half the size of their higher-income peers' vocabularies. |
| Demand for early education and care is high, but so is the cost. On average, families pay $11,669 per year for a 4-year-old in a center-based program, making Massachusetts the most expensive state in the nation. |
| Only 27% of preschool-age children receive public funding for early education, and nearly 40,000 children from low-income families are on a waiting list for a state child care subsidy. |
| The economic downturn has affected young children. State funding for the Department of Early Education and Care and its programs has declined by $82 million (14%) since Fiscal Year 2009. |
| We must ensure all children have the education and skills they'll need for the 21st century economy. College- and career- readiness begins with a strong foundation for learning in the early childhood years. |
| |
| The Solution |
| Make research-based investments in young children. Help ensure children have access to high-quality early education and become proficient readers by the end of third grade. |
| The path to literacy begins at birth, with children's earliest language development, and includes high-quality early education. |
| Low-income children who attended high-quality preschool are 40% less likely to be placed in special education or retained in grade, 30% more likely to graduate from high school, and twice as likely to attend college. |
| Nobel laureate James Heckman and other leading economists say high-quality early education prepares our future labor force and provides an estimated 10-16% return on investment. |
| Policy should support children's language and literacy development in all settings throughout the birth-third grade continuum. |
| |
