Scarcely a day goes by without additional evidence of the importance of early childhood cognitive, social and physical development in determining the future of every American citizen. In sifting through this mountain of data, Maryland State Delegate Mark Shriver (D-Montgomery County) was struck by the fact that 90 percent of cognitive development occurs during the first three years of life -- yet 90 percent of public childhood development expenditures are devoted to children after the age of five.

Upon becoming Chair of the Maryland legislature's Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families in 1999, Shriver decided to cast a spotlight on how his state was allocating resources to get children prepared to enter the K-12 educational system. But he and his colleagues quickly discovered that the myriad of state agencies involved in early childhood programs could only tell them how many clients they served -- not their actual, real-life results. Shriver had a simple but profound idea: the state should measure how well Marylanders were prepared for school, and then assess and invest in state programs according to their tangible contributions to the goal of improving school readiness.

Shriver's committee quickly got an agreement from the State Board of Education to conduct a survey of 23,000 kindergarten students across the state to assess their preparation for school in seven areas: social and personal skills, language and literacy, mathematical thinking, scientific thinking, social studies, the arts and physical development. (This survey will include all kindergarten students in the future, making Maryland the first state to systematically measure school readiness.)

The results of the survey were presented on February 26, 2001 at hearings held by the Joint House and Senate Budget Committee, and the Joint Committee on Children, Youth and Families. The survey found that 60 percent of Maryland kindergarten students were not prepared for school, with especially low preparation figures from low-income neighborhoods around the state. But the hearing had another novel feature. Normally, state agencies in Maryland (and elsewhere) make budget presentations one at a time, based on their own mission, jurisdiction, and programs. Shriver's committee insisted that all eight state agencies involved in early childhood education and services explain their programs and justify their budget requests in terms of how they anticipate improving school readiness statistics -- in other words, in terms of actual results.

The hearing had a galvanizing effect on its participants, and also drew attention to the need for more resources for early childhood education and related services. Governor Parris Glendening contributed to the effort by proposing a significant expansion in the state's commitment to early childhood education, including funding for comprehensive early childhood centers, which offer health and family services as well childcare.

But Shriver says it's just the first step: "As we realign our investments to build an Early Childhood Education system, we must be accountable for results. Using baseline measurements of school readiness, we must determine on an ongoing basis whether or strategies are succeeding in improving these baselines."

Shriver also argues that the basic concept of measuring state investments and programs by real-life results, across agency and legislative committee jurisdictional lines, should be applied to other critical areas of need.

Like the "Show Me Results" budgeting initiative of the late Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, Shriver's effort reflects the New Democrat principle of modernizing government by fearlessly evaluating programs to ensure that they actually achieve the progressive goals they were first created to meet. Without such evaluation, yesterday's means for achieving important public ends can become ends in themselves, at a high cost to their intended beneficiaries.