Summary

The people of Cincinnati face a fork in the road. They could choose to invest in their shared future by increasing access to high-quality preschools for all children. Or they could continue on the current path, with nearly half of their children starting from a disadvantage on their first day of kindergarten. Our research shows that expanding access to preschool would improve the health of Cincinnati’s children and families, making Cincinnati a healthier, wealthier and more equitable city.

Recommendations

• Expand access to high-quality preschool programs to all children
• Prioritize to reach those most in need, such as children living in poverty
• Assure high-quality preschools and teachers through adherence to preschool program and training features that research has proven to be successful
• Utilize a trauma-informed approach to discipline that incorporates an understanding of the source of the behavior problem, in preschool and beyond, rather than zero tolerance policies such as suspensions and expulsions
• Assure that high-quality preschools are geographically distributed throughout the city

If expanded access to preschool were implemented for a decade…

• Over 20,000 more children would have access to preschool,
• including more than 9,000 vulnerable children living in poverty.
• Parenting stress would be reduced.
• Child abuse and neglect would be reduced by 27%.
• More than 500 children would not be held back a year.
• More than 500 children would not be in special education.
• Nearly 3,500 more students would graduate high school.
• Over 4,000 fewer crimes would take place.
• These 20,000 more children would grow up to earn about $9,000 more per year.
• This adds up, over 10 years and 20,000 children, to nearly $1.8 billion more in earnings.