Early education prevents incarceration —peer-reviewed research

In ScienceDaily, 10 June 2011, Large-Scale Early Education Linked to Higher Living Standards and Crime Prevention 25 Years Later
In the study published June 9 in the journal Science, Reynolds and Temple (with co-authors Suh-Ruu Ou, Irma Arteaga, and Barry White) report on more than 1,400 individuals whose well-being has been tracked for as much as 25 years. Those who had participated in an early childhood program beginning at age 3 showed higher levels of educational attainment, socioeconomic status, job skills, and health insurance coverage as well as lower rates of substance abuse, felony arrest, and incarceration than those who received the usual early childhood services.
Among the detailed findings for the study group:
  • 28 percent fewer abused drugs and alcohol; 21 percent fewer males alone
  • 22 percent fewer had a felony arrest; the difference was 45 percent for children of high school dropouts
  • 28 percent fewer had experienced incarceration or jail

Here’s the journal article: Arthur J. Reynolds, Judy A. Temple, Suh-Ruu Ou, Irma A. Arteaga, and Barry A. B. White. School-Based Early Childhood Education and Age-28 Well-Being: Effects by Timing, Dosage, and Subgroups. Science, 9 June 2011 DOI: 10.1126/science.1203618.

We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. Invest those tax dollars in education, instead.

-jsq

One thought on “Early education prevents incarceration —peer-reviewed research”

  1. Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

    Tim Carroll notes (in a facebook comment) that the actual article is behind a AAAS paywall. Yes, that’s often the case. You can also get it via pubmed’s paywall. I’m not a member of either. Some funded entity such as CUEE could probably afford the rather small fee either of those paywalls requires.
    Tim wants to know how the study was funded and what was its methodology.
    Regarding funding, this source
    http://www.sciencenewsline.com/medicine/2011061010090017.html
    says
    “The study was funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Information on CLS can be found at http://www.cehd.umn.edu/icd/cls/. ”
    Regarding methodology, this other article appears to be about the same study:
    http://www.preschoolcalifornia.org/resources/resource-files/effects-of-a-school-based.pdf
    So, Tim, want to read it and summarize the methodology for us?
    -jsq

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