tudy added credibility to the claims of early education advocates that preschool has lasting positive effects on both the individual and society. In essence, it pays for itself in terms of long-term benefits.
A well-run preschool has the following long-term benefits:
(1) savings in schooling, primarily due to reduced need for special education services and despite added college costs for preschool-program participants; (2) increased taxes paid by preschool-program participants because they had higher earnings; (3) savings in welfare assistance; (4) savings in the criminal justice system; and (5) savings on in-court and out-of-court settlements for would-be victims of crimes. (DelCampo & DelCampo, 1995, p. 203)
According to a California School Readiness Task Force study (1988), preschool success is gained in the following circumstances:
The child is given opportunities to engage in hands-on manipulation of materials within a rich and stimulating environment structured by a teacher trained in early childhood education. [In this structured environment], the child will develop more abstract thought and be capable of successful interaction within a learning setting (California State Department of Education, 1988, p. 3).
The key to success in an early education setting involves a carefully structured interaction of a child's innate ability and the environment. In other words, the child's innate ability provides the readiness to
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