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JEFFREY BROWN: Now, how educators in Chicago are working to give lower-income students a leg up in the pre-kindergarten years and boost their prospects for life.
The NewsHour's special correspondent for education, John Merrow, has the story.
WOMAN: All right, so let's see. Let's see what I can see here. OK.
JOHN MERROW: Children raised in homes with educated parents swim in a sea of language, a world of vocabulary-rich conversations.
WOMAN: Why don't you show daddy what you want him to do?
MAN: Yes.
WOMAN: Why don't you demonstrate?
MAN: Show—yes, show me what you want.
JOHN MERROW: The contrast for low-income children could not be more dramatic. By the time children are ready for kindergarten, some will have heard millions more words than others. Without intervention, this vocabulary gap can lead to a school achievement gap. That, in turn, can mean college for some, while others drop out without even learning how to read.
BARBARA BOWMAN, Chicago Public Schools: The cost of school failure is enormous. It's prisons. Its unemployment. It's dissatisfaction in neighborhoods and communities. All of that is going to cost you and your kids money.
JOHN MERROW: A lot of money. It costs about $30,000 a year to keep someone behind bars. Over two-thirds of inmates never finish high school.
WOMAN: Boy, you can pour me some water.
JOHN MERROW: This program in Chicago helps children before they have a chance to fall behind.
WOMAN: Can you fill my cup up? I need some water.
DIANA RAUNER, Ounce of Prevention Fund: We spend about $18,000 to $20,000 per child per year. That seems like a lot of money, but when you do the return on investment, we believe it actually pays off.
JOHN MERROW: With a per-pupil price tag that is two-thirds of what it costs to house a prisoner, Diana Rauner's program Educare provides high-quality child care in preschool for at-risk children up to age 5. Infants are accepted as young as six weeks.
DIANA RAUNER: The most important time for us to intervene is really in the first 1,000 days of life, a time when the brain is developing so quickly and when interactions with adults matter so much to children's developing sense of who they are and their language development.
JOHN MERROW: Educare is open 11 hours a day, five days a week, all year round. Children get good food, regular exercise and those with special needs receive additional supports in small groups.
WOMAN: Would you like me to put the sand in your hand? Can you say hand?
CHILD: Hand.
WOMAN: OK.
DIANA RAUNER: Our teachers all have bachelor's degrees, and they have infant-toddler certification. They have worked very, very hard to learn how to appropriately develop language and social-emotional skills.
WOMAN: You finished?
CHILD: Yes.
WOMAN: So, are you ready to put your beans inside?
CHILD: Yes.
