Study: Kindergarten matters for "long-term outcomes"

Students who learn more in kindergarten earn more as adults and are more successful overall, according to a new study. Kids who progressed during their kindergarten year from earning an average score on a particular standardized test to scoring in the 60th percentile can expect to make about $1,000 more a year at age 27 than students whose scores stay average.

Add in other advantages, like smaller kindergarten class size, and the earnings boost goes up to $2,000 a year.

"Kindergarten interventions matter a great deal for long-term outcomes," said study researcher John Friedman, a Harvard University economist. "For instance, being in a smaller class for two years increases the probability of attending college by 2%."  Read more in The Christian Science Monitor online.