They were poor Ypsilanti children likely to perform poorly in school when researchers randomly placed them in an experimental preschool program in the 1960s. Now, decades later, their successes as adults are fueling a push for more quality preschool programs for low-income youth.

Those who received a quality preschool program have higher earnings, are more likely to hold a job, have committed fewer crimes and were more likely to have graduated from high school than those in the study who didn't take part in the program.

The findings, being released this week, also showed that for every dollar invested in the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study, the nation has saved nearly $13 in social-welfare costs.

"We ought to be acting on that out of self-interest, if we don't act on it because it's the right thing to do," said Larry Schweinhart, president of the High/Scope Educational Research Foundation in Ypsilanti.

He hopes the findings will affect public policy, and spur the nation to work toward ensuring low-income families have access to a quality preschool program.

"It's just ironic, deeply ironic, that after all these years we're still piddling with this," Schweinhart said.

Too many kids aren't getting the services they need, Schweinhart and others say.

"Kids need to start on an even playing field. If they are coming to school behind, it's very difficult for them to catch up," said Joan Firestone, early childhood consultant for Oakland Schools, the county's intermediate school district.

The study "supports what many of us have known for years," said Sue Javid, early childhood consultant for the Macomb Intermediate School District.

Its findings, plus a recent move by the Michigan Department of Education to establish the Office of Early Childhood Education and Family Services, place needed focus on the issue, Javid said.

"The early years are the learning years, the valuable years, and we need to begin to look at education not as K-12 and not as K-16, but as pre-K through 16," Javid said.

Lindy Buch, director of that new office at the state education department, said children in the Michigan School Readiness Program, a preschool program that is offered in many school districts and child-care centers, have shown similar gains. They're less likely to be held back a year and more likely to pass the math and reading MEAP tests as fourth-graders, Buch said.

A preschool program has to have certain elements in place to achieve the kind of success that the Perry program did, Buch said.

Among them: certified teachers, small class sizes, strong curriculum and parent involvement.

Buch said the state must work with all preschool programs to ensure they're high quality. And it must work to ensure that middle-class children also have access to a quality program.

"This is a prevention strategy. You won't see MEAP scores go up right away because of it. But long term, you'll see improvements," Buch said.