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| Be a Champion for Young Children |
As a Voter
- Make sure you vote! In addition to the presidential election, this year there will be elections for all 200 state legislative seats, as well as numerous municipal elections. Not sure where to vote? See where. Tuesday, November 6 is election day.
- Learn about the candidates in Massachusetts 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. Email us for help with questions specific to your community.
- Enagage Your Community. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper urging candidates to prioritize young children in the election. Contact Titus DosRemedios, SFC's director of research and policy, for assistance.
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As a Candidate
- 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 director of research and policy.
- 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.
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ELECTION YEAR 2018
High-quality early education is a research-based strategy for helping children prepare for success in school and life. Yet here in Massachusetts, many children don’t have this opportunity, due to cost, quality, and access issues.
Let's level the playing field for all our children, and live up to our reputation as a national leader in education and social policy.
2018 Elections
Election day is getting closer. The Massachusetts state election and the presidential election take place on Tuesday, November 6. This is a mid-term election for members of Congress. Also on the ballot are the Massachusetts Governor and all 200 state legislators.
Important dates this election season:
- The last day to register to vote is Wednesday, October 19.
- Massachusetts voters will be able to cast their ballots early this election season. Early voting begins in Massachusetts on Monday, October 24 and ends on Friday, November 4. Contact your local election official for information on your community's early voting dates, locations and times.
- Election Day is on Tuesday, November 6.
For more information on the Democratic and Republican candidates, please visit the Secretary of State’s website . It is important that we work together to ensure high-quality early education and care and reading proficiency are priorities on the campaign trail and on Election Day.
To find your election information, please visit the Secretary of State’s website and enter your home address.
The Challenge
Massachusetts is recognized as a national leader in education, but our success is not shared equally. We can do better:
- 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 $12,176 per year for a 4-year-old in a center-based program, making Massachusetts the second most expensive state in the nation.
- Only 27% of preschool-age children receive public funding for early education, through Head Start, public school preschool, and state child care subsidies.
- Statewide, 53% of third graders read below grade level, including 71% of third graders from low-income families (2017 Next-Generation MCAS).
- 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.
- 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, families, and the early education workforce.
- 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.
- Teacher quality is the most important component of program quality. We must ensure our early childhood educators in public and private settings are well trained, fairly compensated, and supported with ongoing professional development and leadership opportunities.
- 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
- All children deserve strong foundations in social-emotional learning, and educators need training for supporting challenging behaviors and mental health of young children.
- Preparing young children to become productive, engaged adults is good for children, families and taxpayers.
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