Prevention investment returns persist under ordinary public-school conditions

Evidence

Following 1,539 program participants and 550 matched controls through age 21, Reynolds and colleagues calculated a return of $7.14 for every dollar invested, with 42 percent of the return attributable to avoided criminal justice costs. This return was achieved under ordinary public-school implementation conditions rather than intensive experimental program staffing, demonstrating that prevention investment returns are not artifacts of hothouse experimental intensity but are achievable at scale. — , The Rod and the Child, 10792

Categorization

• XREF: Qualifies the common critique that early-intervention returns only appear in small experimental programs like Perry Preschool. — connects to: Sustained cross-generational investment outproduces short-cycle educational reforms. — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 1789; Preventive environmental management outperforms corrective discipline in child formation — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 1948

Related

• Prevention programs pay for themselves through avoided criminal justice costs (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Preventive environmental management outperforms corrective discipline in child formation #corroborates (0.70) — , The Rod and the Child, 1948