The Value of Social Emotional Learning in Early Childhood

I was watching the Minnesota Twins getting beat up by the New York Yankees a couple of weeks ago and it reminded me of an economist named Art Rolnick.

Art Rolnick wrote a paper called An Early Childhood Investment with a High Public Return, which  examined the different ways a government can invest money, including subsidizing sports stadiums like Target Field, trying to lure a company into a state, or investing in early childhood development programs.

I recently revisited Rolnick’s work and it is as relevant now as it was when I first read it 12 years ago. At that time, I was working with school districts in Maryland implementing the Waterford Early Learning system to help three and four-year-olds build reading and language skills before entering kindergarten. I evaluated students with varying backgrounds who worked on the program for 15 minutes a day, four days a week, for six months. The results were astounding. Student performance on the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Learning Skills (DIBELS) went up across the board as compared to students in the control group.

What was missing from my research, however, were two key pieces that were explored in the HighScope study. First, because this was for a single year, we never determined if the student improvement had any long-term effects. This is a key indicator for garnering support for early learning programs among principals, as they are judged on student performance on high stakes assessments that begin in third grade. Second, I never considered measuring the social emotional learning aspect of this early learning intervention, which jumped out at me as I revisited Rolnick’s work.

The HighScope study looked at the Perry Preschool project, which provided early childhood support, and then tracked the students in that group later in life. The results showed that program participants consumed fewer public services while also contributing more to society. One puzzling aspect is that the IQ gains of the study group were eroded over time such that the control group had the same IQ a few years later. But is IQ the right measure? As Rolnick notes, "a significant contribution to the program's success likely derived from growth in noncognitive areas involving social-emotional functioning.” 

I believe the social emotional learning that took place, especially around the executive function, is what drove the societal gains realized in the Perry Preschool Project. As we start a new school year, I am looking forward to learning more about how educators that serve our youngest students develop these concepts, while also fostering the love of learning that is so important for lifelong success. Please share your thoughts with me here or write me at [email protected].