“Early childhood education benefits more than the kids who participate — it also helps their kids, even decades later.

“A new study of Head Start, the large federally funded pre-kindergarten initiative that started in the 1960s, found that the children of kids who participated were substantially more likely to graduate high school and attend college, and less likely to commit crime and become a teen parent.

“It’s the latest signal that a substantial investment in early childhood education, particularly when paired with well-funded K-12 schools, can have long-lasting benefits — and offers a striking extension of that research into a second generation.

“‘Our findings indicate that societal investments in early childhood education can disrupt the intergenerational transmission of the effects of poverty,’ write researchers Andrew Barr of Texas A&M and Chloe Gibbs of Notre Dame.”

“Who benefits from Head Start? Kids who attend — and their kids, too,” by Matt Barnum, Chalkbeat, September 19, 2017