The evolution of Minnesota businesses' agenda for effective early learning

It was in the early 2000s that the Minnesota business community began getting serious about a most unlikely education cause.

Businesses and their various foundations and employee giving programs had long sponsored college scholarships for those most in need. In the mid-1980s, the business community began a serious effort at reforming the K-12 system under the leadership of 3M CEO Lewis Lehr and his colleagues at the Minnesota Business Partnership.

Forming an unusual alliance with DFL Gov. Rudy Perpich, such reform ideas as postsecondary enrollment options for high school students (earning college credits along the way), open enrollment, student/parent choice of schools and careful measurement of student performance were the result of several years of significant policy advocacy.

This latest education focus for business came through recognition that for too many of Minnesota's youngest and most at-risk children there is a need for early learning involving parents and significant other resources.

Nearly half of Minnesota kids have been unprepared to thrive in kindergarten, so in an effort to help fill this learning gap, business went to school on how to make a difference.

The issue of early learning for prekindergartners was profoundly influenced by a 2003 research project that involved Federal Reserve Bank economist Art Rolnick and his colleague Rob Grunewald. The duo calculated that taxpayers are provided a return of about $8 for every $1 invested over the life of the child.

Within months of its release, the respected report formed the basis of what came to be known as Minnesota Business for Early Learning (MnBEL), chaired by Al Stroucken, then the CEO of HB Fuller, and backed by leading businesses and various chambers of commerce throughout the state.

Dr. Jack Shonkoff came to Minnesota to help Stroucken organize business support. Shonkoff, who now directs the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, explained research he oversaw resulting in new insights into child brain development — about 80 percent of adult size by age 2.

Shonkoff and his colleagues found that household stress and neglect affected a child's brain during these critical formative stages and foresaw diminished long-term prospects for a child well before age 3.

At the time, some State Capitol insiders criticized the early learning efforts by business as creating "a nanny state."

Rolnick was among the most effective in asserting that Minnesota's best economic investment is in providing what he calls "high potential/high return" kids with early learning and need-based scholarships, resulting in healthy youngsters who are ready to learn by the time they start kindergarten.

A couple of years later, Stroucken, Rolnick and other business leaders joined a group headed by Cargill CEO Warren Staley that delved deeper into implementing ideas for how to reach and prepare young children who most need the assistance through the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation.

On a national level, Rolnick's efforts have made contributions to shaping the Obama administration's early-childhood policies and have influenced others like presidential candidates John McCain, Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton. Indeed, Rolnick's arguments on behalf of preschoolers have stirred national and even international attention as he has traveled widely telling the story.

Today, about 40,000 low-income Minnesota children under age 5 lack access to the kind of high quality early care and education that more affluent parents can afford.

Thanks to a concerted effort by Gov. Mark Dayton and leaders on both sides of the political divide in St. Paul, the education bill invests an additional $20 million over the next two years — for a total of $140 million — to provide low-income families early learning support for their preschoolers.

Parent Aware scholarships, ranging up to $13,000 per child a year, can be used with any Parent Aware star-rated child care provider. Just like the '80s reforms for K-12, parents choose the local provider that best meets their needs including schools, day care centers, Head Start or family day care providers.

The increased funding will encourage more providers to earn a Parent Aware star rating so they can serve area children with scholarships. Called the Minnesota Model for Early Education, this public/private partnership already has over 3,000 providers since it began a statewide rollout four years ago. Some 27,000 scholarships have already been awarded.

The Parent Aware scholarship kids have shown significantly improved vocabularies, social skills, attention spans, math and pre-reading skills by the time they were ready for kindergarten at age 5. At the same time, the best preschool programs flourished in the project's neighborhoods, attracted by the chance to compete for scholarships.

An additional $50 million was awarded to help expand school-based prekindergarten learning sites, a goal in which Dayton has been especially interested.

Some time ago I resolved to use my time and resources to advance successful ways to support kids already identified as on a "failure track." This included advancing early learning infrastructure as a child's brain develops; achieving literacy by third grade; improved K-12 and post-high school education; job training; and a kind of continuing life coach volunteer mentoring model for these young kids at least until they are age 25.

Much done. Much more to do.

Chuck Slocum is president of the Williston Group, a management consulting firm, and was at one time executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership.