Business Case for Yearly Childhood Investments

PARTNERSHIP FOR AMERICA’S ECONOMIC SUCCESS Funders of the Partnership The George Gund Foundation, Ohio Children’s Foundation, Robert Dugger, Society for Human Resource Management, Paul Tudor Jones and The Pew Charitable Trusts American business needs... More

PARTNERSHIP FOR AMERICA’S ECONOMIC SUCCESS Funders of the Partnership The George Gund Foundation, Ohio Children’s Foundation, Robert Dugger, Society for Human Resource Management, Paul Tudor Jones and The Pew Charitable Trusts American business needs employees who are well prepared—but we’re not getting them: • The majority of fourth or eighth graders are not proficient in both math and reading in any state. 1 • In 2009, U. S. 15-year-olds ranked 25th among 34 developed countries in math and 17th in science. 2 • Only 25 percent of young people ages 17 to 24 would qualify to serve in the U. S. military. 3 The rest could not meet the physical, behavioral or educational standards for service—standards similar to those many industries use. This failing workforce pipeline can be repaired, but we have to start early. The foundation of many skills needed for 21st -century jobs is established in the earliest years. 4 • Young children’s brains develop 700 synapses—neural connections t Less