Community Profile

North Carolina’s Smart Start early education initiative is designed so that each county identifies and addresses its most pressing needs.

 

  In North Carolina, 

                            children under 5 years of age make up nearly 7% of the state's population (NC Division of Child Development and Early Educ.)

•    In New Hanover County, there are.... 

•        14,530 children ages birth to five years old.  (US Census 2010)

•         4,280 children birth to five and 1,152 school-age children enrolled in licensed child care programs. (2011, childcareservices.org)

•         5,770 children under school age with both parents working (NC Partnership for Children Total Need Calculation 2010-2011)

•         135 licensed child care facilities* (NC Division of Child Development and Early Education, November 2011 ncchildcare.org)

•  * There are two types of child care facilities, child care centers and family child care homes.  All licensed facilities are given ratings, ranging from 1 to 5, by the NC Division of Child Development and Early Education to reflect their quality standards.

                                                                      71 Child Care Centers

                                                                           13- Five Star

                                                                           20- Four Star

                                                                           20- Three Star

                                                                            0- Two Star

                                                                            8- One Star

                                                                            6- GS 110 (Church-based programs)

                                                                            1- Special Provisional License

                                                                            3- Temporary License

                                                                      64 Family Child Care Homes

                                                                           5- Five Star

                                                                           3- Four Star

                                                                          12- Three Star

                                                                          18- Two Star

                                                                          26- One Star

                            3.84 is the average star rated licensure for child care centers and homes.
                                            (NC Division of Child and Early Education)

         New Hanover County Children--Quick Facts

                            21.2% of children ages birth to 5 live in poverty (kidscount.org, 2009)

                            1,503 children of working families in need receive child care subsidy services (NHC DSS, October 2011)

                            33.4% of children ages 2-18 are overwieght or obese.

                            15.4% of children under five years of age are obese.  (NC Nutrition and Physical Activity Surveillance System, 2009)

                            10.1% of children under 18 are uninsured. (2009, ncpublichealthcatch.com)

                            4.8% of children ages birth-three receive early intervention services for special needs 
                               (NC Div. of Public Health, Women's and Children's Health Section, 2009)

                            5% of children ages 3-5 receive early intervention services for special needs 
                               (NC Div. of Public Health, Women's and Children's Health Section, 2009)

                            10% of kindergarteners have untreated tooth decay (2009, ncpublichealthcatch.com)

                            In 2009, there were 306 pregnancies to mothers ages 15-19, 86 of which were to mothers under age 18; making up nearly 10 

                              percent of all pregnancies in the county.

            Economic Impact of Child Care     

                            New Hanover County has more than 100 licensed child care businesses.  These small businesses employ 1,107 people directly.
                               (2011, childcareservices.org)

                            In New Hanover County, more than 9,500 children under age six live in families where their sole parent or both parents work. 

                               In turn, child care is essential to the economic prosperity of these families.
                                (2011, childcareservices.org)

            Useful Links

                         Child Care in New Hanover County Fact Sheet

                         Economic Impact of Child Care

Listen to the Experts

Click on the videos below to find out more about Smart Start.

Economic Impact of Investment in Early Childhood

The Science of Early Childhood Development

Good Reads: Studies on the Impact of Early Education

From Birth to School: Examining the Effects of Early Childhood Programs on Educational Outcomes in NC (2010)
Kenneth Dodge, Ph.D, Helen Ladd, Ph.D, and Clara Muschkin, Ph.D. Center for Child and Family Policy Duke
University

Higher grade 3 standardized math test scores.  Scores are higher in counties that received higher allocations for Smart Start.  The Smart Start investment was equivalent to about 2 months of instruction on average.

• Higher grade 3 standardized reading test scores.  Scores are higher in counties that received higher allocations for Smart Start.  The Smart Start investment was equivalent to about 2 months of instruction on average.

• Reduction in special education placements by grade 3.  About 10% fewer children were placed in special education by grade 3, which amounts to an expected savings in special education costs at least equal to the cost of the Smart Start program.

• The positive effect was seen for all children but is highest among the group of children for whom the initiatives were targeted--children at risk for academic failure.

• This strategy permits estimation of total effects--direct effects and spill-over effects to non-participants and is well suited for an initiative like Smart Start.  Because Smart Start offers a wide variety of programs (e.g., parenting classes, screenings in doctors' offices, improvements in the quality in child care) and children participate at different rates, it is impossible to identify the program or combinations of programs in which each child participated.

High/Scope Perry Preschool Study (2005)
Schweinhart, L.J., Montie, J., Xiang, Z., W.S., Belfield, C.R., & Nores, M..

This study--perhaps the most well-known of all High/Scope research efforts--examines the lives of 123 African Americans born in poverty and at high risk of failing in school.

From 1962-1967, at ages 3 and 4, the subjects were randomly divided into a program group that received a high-quality preschool program.  In the study's most recent phase, 97% of the study participants still living were interviewed at age 40.  Additional data were gathered from the subjects' school, social services, and arrest records.

The study found that adults at age 40 who had the preschool program had higher earnings, were more likely to hold a job, had committed fewer crimes, and were more likely to have graduated from high school than adults who did not have preschool.