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Mainstream media turns focus to Early Childhood Education

The crucial importance of investing in early childhood education is hitting the mainstream media.

Last week, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nicholas Kristof published his op-ed piece "Too Small to Fail" in the New York Times. Kristof cites a new collection of essays from Harvard Education Press, "The Leading Edge of Early Childhood Education," which state that "toxic stress from poverty impairs brain circuits responsible for impulse control, working memory, emotional regulation, error processing and healthy metabolic function. Early childhood programs protect those young brain." And yet, we are not hearing any mention of this recent wave of research and findings in the Presidential debates or as a part of any candidates policies on education.

Kristof compares America's education system to World War I, with both sides entrenched and exhausted, but no one is making much progress. "Let's transcend the stalemate," he proclaims, "and focus on investing in America's neediest kids."

Bright Promises couldn't agree more. Check out our EQUIP program to learn about how Bright Promise is investing in quality early childhood education in some of Chicago's lowest-income neighborhoods so that every child has the opportunity to flourish.