Quietly and without much fanfare, Gov. Rick Snyder signed an executive order recently creating an Office of Great Start within the Michigan Department of Education.
This new office will work with Michigan’s Early Childhood Investment Corporation, which operates the Great Start system, to ensure that more children are “school ready” when they arrive in kindergarten.
This is very good news for Michigan. Early childhood development is fundamental to creating great kids, and great kids are fundamental to creating a new version of the Michigan we all know and remember – a Michigan that is economically vibrant and a place where businesses and families move to rather than away from.
Economist James Heckman, the Nobel Laureate from the University of Chicago, offers a formula for understanding why things like prenatal care, preschool, quality child care and more are economically important.
The “Heckman Equation,” as he calls it, says that if we invest in educational and developmental resources for disadvantaged families that develop cognitive skills, social skills, and physical well-being in children early - from birth to age five, when it matters most – and sustain that early leg-up with effective education through adulthood, we gain more capable, productive and valuable citizens who pay dividends to America for generations to come.
Gov. Snyder is a pragmatic, results-driven person. His vision of a cradle to adulthood education system isn’t based on flight or fancy. It’s based on data.
As Professor Heckman said in a letter to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Reform, “Data from economists, social scientists and medical experts conclusively shows that the answer is to invest in comprehensive early childhood development—from birth to age five—particularly in disadvantaged children and their families.”
Michigan’s Office of Great Start is certainly a step in the right direction. The office will combine and coordinate early childhood programs and resources that currently are scattered across multiple state departments.
The office will also work closely with the Early Childhood Investment Corporation to create, as the governor said earlier this year, “a dynamic partnership aimed at maximizing public and private investment in the service of Michigan’s children.”
A major part of that partnership will continue to be Michigan’s Great Start Collaboratives, which operate in every county and are making tremendous strides toward building local early childhood systems starting with a painstakingly built assessment of community needs and assets.
What’s exciting about the Office of Great Start is that in time – and with continued legislative support - we just might be able to see state resources go to communities to make those plans real.
If so, we’ll move from making incremental progress on school readiness in Michigan to leaps.
That will be wonderful news for Michigan and its future.
Visit http://www.greatstartjackson.org/ to learn how you can be involved in the work of your local Great Start Collaborative or contact Sheri Butters at sbutters@caajlh.org.
