Though Abecedarian and Perry have been influential, they have limitations. When it comes to the long-term benefits of early education, he adds, "I think the evidence is mixed." Mixed messages "Russ" Whitehurst, PhD, a child psychologist with the Brookings Institution and former director of the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. "The Perry study is a thin reed on which to develop an all-encompassing theory of early intervention," says Grover J. Investments in early childhood reap rewards along the line, in ways that we're just now really understanding." "I think the field is starting to shift, offering confirmation of some of the points that Heckman has raised. Cybele Raver, PhD, a psychologist and vice provost of academic, faculty and research affairs at New York University. Other studies support the idea that some social benefits persist even as cognitive gains disappear, says C. The Perry study seemed to support a view first championed by Nobel laureate and economist James Heckman, PhD: The short-term cognitive benefits of preschool may fade, but long-term social benefits may sprout later in life. The program appeared to have positive effects on high-school graduation rates, adult earnings and crime reduction. However, other benefits materialized in early adulthood. Although children who attended the program scored higher on intelligence tests than the control group right after preschool, those intelligence gains disappeared by elementary school. Initially, the results didn't seem promising. The researchers followed those participants into their 40s. Weikart, PhD, a psychologist for the Ypsilanti, Mich., school district, and colleagues randomly assigned low-income African-American children to an intensive two-year preschool program or to a control group that didn't attend preschool. The Perry Preschool Project had a similar design, but quite different findings. They had greater academic achievement from the primary grades though young adulthood, and were more likely to go to college. The investigators found that children who participated in the program scored higher on tests of cognitive functioning from toddlerhood through early adulthood. Then the researchers followed the children into adulthood. Between 19, investigators randomly assigned four cohorts of infants to an intensive, full-time early-education program from birth to age 5, or to a control group that didn't receive services. The Abecedarian Project, led by psychologists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, targeted children from low-income, mostly African-American families in North Carolina. When politicians discuss the benefits of early education, they often point to two influential long-term studies: The Abecedarian Project and the Perry Preschool Project. "The scientific question would be: Is it likely that you could construct pre-K programs that would benefit kids academically and socially? And I think the answer is yes." The long view "Whether universal pre-K is a good idea is a political question," says Daniel Willingham, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Virginia. Though plenty of questions remain, these early-education researchers are adding important shades of gray to the conversation. But now more than ever, psychologists are crucial in helping to explain how, why, when and for whom some preschool investments work while others fall flat. While psychologists have long been involved in studies of preschool, much of the focus lately has focused on economic cost-benefit analyses of early education. That's partly because studies of early education have found mixed results. The top question about universal pre-K - whether it is worth the cost to taxpayers - remains up for debate. In 2000, some 700,000 children in the United States had access to pre-K, compared with 1.3 million in 2011.īut in many ways, the national conversation about early education is just getting started. State funding for pre-K more than doubled, from $2.4 billion in 2002 to $5.4 billion in 2010, according to a 2011 report from The Pew Charitable Trusts. During his successful run for New York City mayor last year, Bill de Blasio made universal preschool a cornerstone of his campaign.Įven before those proposals, preschool was having a heyday. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama introduced a plan to provide universal preschool for all 4-year-olds from low-income and moderate-income families.
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