INVESTING IN FUTURE BIRMINGHAM

Investing in Future Birmingham: A Case for Quality Pre-school Education

Brittany K. Bisese
Samford University

INVESTING IN FUTURE BIRMINGHAM

Investing in Future Birmingham: A Case for Quality Pre-school Education

Kingston Neighborhood, Birmingham AL
Kingston neighborhood is located just south of the Birmingham International
Airport off of I-20. Its average housing costs of $47, 953 makes the housing in this
neighborhood lower than 96% of Alabamas neighborhoods and 98% of all
neighborhoods in the United States (Birmingham, n.d.). However, its rental cost is
higher than almost 67% of housing complexes in Alabama; thus showing grossly
inflated rental costs. It is an older neighborhood with houses mainly from the 1940s
and 1960s. Kingstons average per capita income is lower than near 97% of other
neighborhoods in the United States, which warrants it the title of one of the lowest
income neighborhoods in America (Birmingham, n.d.). 76% of children in Kingston
grow up in poverty, which is a higher concentration of poverty than 98.8% of
neighborhoods in the US (Birmingham, n.d.). Children living in Kingston may be sent
to a variety of elementary schools in the Birmingham City School District. Avondale
Elementary School, for example, is a school that has consistently not met AYP
multiple years (Avondale, n.d.). This is just one of the many schools that students
are sent to where they are given an unequal quality of education than compared to
other students in the same Birmingham City district.

INVESTING IN FUTURE BIRMINGHAM

Investing in Our Future: A Case for Quality Pre-school Education:

To: Mayor William Bell- Birmingham, AL
Dear Mayor Bell,
I am sending this letter as a concerned citizen of Birmingham and as a
professional that is soon to be certified at the Bachelors level in Early Childhood,
Elementary, and Special Education. As I have lived in Birmingham for the past 2
years I have noticed a large divide between the rich and the poor in our city.
Unfortunately, I believe that it is the youth in the low-income areas of our
community that are most negatively impacted by the blatant inequality in quality of
education and opportunity given students in our area. In the Kingston area of
Birmingham, 76% of children grow up in poverty, which is a higher concentration of
poverty than 98.8% of neighborhoods in the US (Birmingham, n.d.). Children in this
neighborhood are sent to a variety of schools that are consistently underperforming
and are failing them.
Thus I respectfully ask you to consider providing high-quality preschool
programs to the youth and families in the Kingston area of this great city. The
research included below displays how providing high quality pre-school programs
to the youth of Kingston would increase their school readiness in the skills of math
and reading, have significant positive long-term effects on high school graduation
rates, average salary rates, crime rates, healthiness, and teenage pregnancy, and
would also be a profitable investment for the city as a whole. Please take a moment
to consider how high-quality preschool education would impact the entire
community of Kingston and our city of Birmingham as a whole.

INVESTING IN FUTURE BIRMINGHAM

Multiple academic studies of small to large-scale effective pre-school

programs have proven that students enrolled in these high quality programs
experience significant growth in their math and literacy skills. After analyzing 84
preschool programs between 1967 and 2007, researchers found that students
enrolled in these programs gained about a third of a year of additional learning
across languages, reading, and math skills (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). One study of
the Tulsa and Boston preschool programs found that students gained an between a
half year and full year of growth in reading and math skills (Yoshikawa et al., 2013).
The higher quality the preschool program, the higher the gains in student
achievement (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Thus effective preschool programs are a
crucial component of ensuring students are ready for school and for future success.
Given the research that shows there is already a significant gap in prior knowledge
between children of working class families and professional families, it is crucial
that students from these working class families receive the additional support they
need in order to close the achievement gap and to be successful in their early years
of schooling. Success in these early years often determines the success of a students
entire career, which impacts their likelihood of high school graduation or
incarceration. Thus it is imperative we emphasize early learning as soon as possible.
Research also shows that because high quality preschool programs
contribute to early school success, this leads to positive long-term effects that
impact the entire community. Experts from the Society for Research in Child
Development found that after examining a wide sample of effective preschool
programs, that the programsappear to produce effects on a wide range of

INVESTING IN FUTURE BIRMINGHAM

behavioral, health, and educational outcomes that persist into adulthood. This
means that the effects of these programs are significant and persist past the
students childhood and into adulthood. The Abecedarian study found that
compared to a control group of students not enrolled in preschool, incarceration
and felony conviction rates of students by age 21 was one-third lower than that
control group who did not attend preschool (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). This was reaffirmed through an evaluation of the Head Start Program which found that, Head
Start children wind up completing more years of schooling, earning more, being
healthier, andmay be less likely to engage in criminal behavior in comparison to
their peers who did not attend the program (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). The
Abecedarian study also found that students enrolled in this program had lower rates
of teenage pregnancy and tobacco use (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Researchers overall
saw a trend in higher graduation rates amongst students who were involved in
preschool programs compared to their peers who did not attend these programs
(Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Thus these programs have a significant long-term impact
on the community at large by positively impacting high school graduation rates,
average salary rates, crime rates, healthiness, and teenage pregnancy.
Finally, because of these long-term benefits, researchers have confirmed that
effective preschool programs are a profitable investment for the community at
large. This is because these programs lead to reduced spending for special education
programs and are associated with lower involvement in welfare, criminal justice,
and child protection services (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). Also, there are greater
economic gains for the community because students enrolled in these programs

INVESTING IN FUTURE BIRMINGHAM

earn higher salaries, thus contributing to the revenues of the city (Yoshikawa et al.,
2013). Finally due to the high academic achievement rates of students in high
quality preschool programs, experts claim that the money spent per dollar on these
programs is more effective than the money spent per dollar on all other educational
incentives. Thus, these programs are a high quality investment in the future of our
community.
Overall, I hope you conclude that effective preschool programs would
significantly impact the children and families of Kingston and our Birmingham
community at large. These programs have been proven to produce high academic
gains in students, which lead to long-term effects on the entire community. The
depth of these long term effects on high school graduation rates, earnings, crime
rates, healthiness, and teenage pregnancy have led researchers to conclude that
these programs are a wise and profitable investment for our community. Please
consider how the lives of children and families all across Birmingham would be
impacted by the implementation of these programs.

Sincerely,

Brittany Bisese

INVESTING IN FUTURE BIRMINGHAM

Reflection:
After reading through forum posts on the website provided by Dr. Finn, I
found that multiple posts warned others to avoid an area called Kingston. I wanted
to see why this particular neighborhood warranted such as warning. So I researched
quality of life, income rates, living conditions, crime rates, and school systems and
performance levels in Kingston and the results were heart breaking. What I found
was that quality preschool programs would significantly impact this community. If
Mayor Bell were to be able to implement these programs in this neighborhood, I
believe that we would see a rise in academic achievement amongst students,
positive changes in the areas of high school graduation rates, salary earnings, crime
rates, healthiness, and teenage pregnancy in this community. Finally, this would
financially benefit our city by decreasing costs of special education, welfare, criminal
justice, and child protection services. Overall, these programs could change the lives
of children in this community.

INVESTING IN FUTURE BIRMINGHAM

References:
Avondale Elementary School. (n.d.). Retrieved December 7, 2014, from
http://www.education.com/schoolfinder/us/alabama/birmingham/avondal
e-elementary-school/#test-scores

Birmingham, AL (Kingston / Avon Park). (n.d.). Retrieved December 7,

2014, from http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/al/birmingham/kingston/

Underwood, M. (n.d.). Forbes ranks Birmingham fifth in list of most dangerous cities
in the country. Retrieved December 7, 2014, from
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/10/forbes_ranks_birmingham_fifth.html

Yoshikawa, H., et al. (2013). Investing in Our Future: The Evidence Base on
Preschool Education. Society for Research in Child Development. 1-15.