President Obama's Plan For Universal Preschool
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-02-18/president-obamas-plan-universal-preschool
Before leaving for a weekend getaway, President Barack Obama announced details of a plan to make high-quality preschool available to all American children. It would use federal money to make preschool classes available for more low- and moderate-income children. But the goal would be to persuade states to offer preschool to all who wanted it. The program could cost as much as $10 billion a year -- nearly a tenth of the entire federal education budget. Supporters say it would provide long-term benefits to all American children. Critics are concerned about the scope of the program, its quality controls and the criteria for participation. Diane and her guests discuss the president's plan for universal preschool.
Guests
Arne Duncan
Secretary of Education in the Obama administration.
James Heckman
Nobel laureate and University of Chicago economist.
Amy Scott
education correspondent at American Public Media's Marketplace.
Douglas Besharov
professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States and former Welfare Studies scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
Comments
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"It's pretty terrible, there's no denying it. Basically, the researchers found that Head Start worked fairly well, emphasis on fairly, for the time that little children were in it, and maybe a year afterward. But by the third grade and in many cases by the first grade there were no appreciable differences between the Head Start kids and the control group kids in terms of social and emotional development, in terms of health and well-being, in terms of learning development. No difference."
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/15/head-start-and-the-prob...
The people that need an education are the voters that look at this "FREE" stuff and think it's a plausible idea. As Obama racks up trillions in additional national debt and deceives people into thinking the rich can and will pay for it. The real question is how long can we go before the inevitable tidal wave of middle class tax increases hit. Obama will make sure that will happen after he is gone and his deliberate damage is done.
Too bad we can't discuss the fake job numbers the president gave at the state of the union address. He should have said this.
There are 473,000 less jobs in this country since I took office, so heading into to my fifth year if were lucky we might have as many jobs as we had when Bush left office. Don't ask me about population growth or people taking on low paying and part time jobs to replace high paying jobs, I haven't found a way to spin that in my favor yet. Oh' by the way, did I tell you about this free stuff and that republicans hate women and children?
But skimping on pre-K budgets is penny-wise and pound-foolish. Economists have found that investing in preschool programs more than pays off in the long run. According to James Heckman, an economics professor and Nobel Laureate at the University of Chicago, pre-K programs for disadvantaged kids have a 7%-to-10% rate of return, which means that for every dollar a state spends on preschool, it will get back $60 to $300 from increased earnings and a decreased need for public services over that child's lifetime. "You can save a lot of money and get a lot better performance by starting early ... rather than putting it off and trying to remediate them later," he tells TIME. "There are real costs in delay." So while Pew isn't pushing for universal pre-K in this economy, it is urging states to expand access to all low-income students as a first step in the hope that eventually any child who wants to attend preschool will be able to.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2094847,00.html#ixzz2LAXT...
"If you're like many new parents, nothing's too good for your little genius, including $30,440 for preschool so your 4-year-old can occupy a few hours each day playing with blocks and finger painting in an organized setting.
Think that's a typo? Think again. That is the price of admission to the preschool program at New York's Ethical Culture Fieldston School. Other private schools in big American cities aren't much better. Bank Street, also in New York, will set you back $27,450; pre-K at Washington's Sidwell Friends runs $26,790. Compared to that, The Center for Early Education in Los Angeles, with its $15,400 tuition, seems like a bargain". Forbes.com
The wealthy find the money invested in their kids early education as money well spent. Many oppose the level playing field of education for all. My State is trying to change education. Their goal is to have the wealthy receive A+ educations in prestigious private schools,using taxpayer dollars,while inner city kids and the poor get a lap top and a voucher to an on-line education provider. When will the NONSENSE END ??
Head Start is an expensive failure. These kids fall back to the mean of their peers who did not go to Head Start by 3rd grade. It should be done away with.
Mr Heckman's data is plagued by small ample size and little effort to establish statistical significance (i.e. p values and numbers needed to study) from what I have read. Most of his research should be disregarded.
Call me old-fashioned and hopelessly out of date, but from my observation and experience, I think kids most enjoy + thrive by being home more with a loving mom and/or dad who transmit great values and warmth.
Yes, yes, i know that world hardly exists anymore, but I am only recalling pleasant memories of my own pre-school youth and also when I raised my kids.
Even though they're in a 'good' preschool, I observe my grandkids' preference to be home more than they are. They usually seem a bit sad at being dropped off....
I noticed that Secretary Duncan did not answer your question "How do you show/prove that if you invest $1.00 in pre-K, you get $7.00 at the back end?" He kept saying you just did, not how they got those numbers. Keep asking those good questions, Diane.
It is incorrect to state that Head Start effects do not last. It is correct to say that a study of academic testing of 3rd graders who had attended Head Start to demographically similar ones who did not, that there were no differences. But there are significant improvements in employment, economic, behavioral and health outcomes in comparing young adults who have attended Head Start with similar ones who did not. Therefore, while the effects of Head Start do not appear on one test at one point in time, they do appear in other tests at other points in time. This may be hard to understand, but most researchers looking at this data believe that this is because Head Start provides long lasting improvements in skill areas such as self-control, motivation, and social skills that are critical for longterm economic and life success that the 3rd grade test simply does not pick up on.
This story was inaccurately reported on Morning Edition today, and again one of your guests stated on your show that Head Start does not have lasting effects, which the evidence simply proves is not true.
Good idea? Bad idea? WHO CARES?
THIS IS NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S JOB UNDER THE CONSTITUTION!
States can do what they want. But under what authority does the FG, UNDER THE CONSTITUTION, start a pre-school program? The commerce clause? What are they regulating? The interstate sale of pencils?
Does no one give a rat's behind about what the Constitution says is the proper role of the FG anymore?
My sister has been a teacher at Head Start for many years, and I am amazed at the diversity of that program. Children are not only prepared academically for school, they are taught how to live a healthy lifestyle, basic deportment, and - in many cases - how to speak English. Perhaps the failure of these students down the road is due, not to the Head Start program, but to the public school system.
I don't know why the AEI dude ducked the 7:1 return on investment assertion when just this A.M. Shankar Vedantam addressed and disputed that number on NPR Morning Edition. The 7:1 number comes from expensive, according to Vedantam, programs applied to highly disadvantaged, low income kids. The results are not applicable to programs like Head Start or other more widely available programs.
The public schools used to be decent way back before 1960. Now they are barely baby sitters and even that they do horribly. To now want to take young children away from their parents and stick them in a public school BEFORE the age of 5 will be a continuation of the tragedy of our public schools. We should be ashamed of ourselves to think that our government who can't even manage a budget will be successful at educating little 3 and 4 year olds. This is beyond bizarre. How many times is our government going to hoodwink us into believing that they can do anything well?
Joshua- do you have a cite for these conclusions? Unfortunately educational "research" is rife with poorly considered conclusions, lack of statistical discipline and bias. No one is going to get published with negative conclusions.
Peggy2014 wrote:
"This is beyond bizarre."
Actually, peggy, it's quite rational. Apparently indoctrination beginning at age 5 and 6 wasn't early enough.
Sounds like Diane is looking at this objectively. Thanks! NPR morning edition science had a good review of preschool effectiveness this morning. Basicly said it is just daycare. That 7:1 'payoff' statistic is based on special ed type preschool directed at high risk kids. Not kids in general.
Great points! I agree and add that Government just stay out of the education of our kids! Let it all go private! The marketplace will dictate which schools are good schools and therefore which ones will survive.
In an ideal world where there is endless amount of funding for programs, this isn't a bad idea. In a reality where we are living with a very large deficit, I think our government should watch how it's spending. We are living in a time where you can graduate from a great four year college with a great GPA and still have trouble getting a job. This has been my own personal experience. I went to a top notch preschool on which my parents spent a lot of money. I'm not sure how this is helping me now. I would love to see this money go to solving the unemployment problem. The more people who are employed, the more people who can afford to send their children to preschool or at least provide them with a comfortable environment to learn and grow.
I am a reading specialist, teaching kindergarten in a public school in Virginia, and I have two comments for your guests. One is the importance of very highly trained teachers, who teach using research-based methods. The second is that it is so important to also work with families to help them with parenting skills and getting their lives on track. In my work, I teach some children who cannot get the full benefit of school because they have emotional and socioeconomic issues in their lives that prevent them from being ready to learn.
And I thought the popular fascist sloganeering on education was "... by eight or it's too late."
To the speaker who just said that, "Daycare is for working moms": This statement betrays your bias in this discussion. Daycare is not for working moms; it is for working parents. Various studies have shown that parents of both genders struggle with balancing the need to work against the need to provide high-quality care for their young children.
Full time childcare for working "parents", please! Childcare is not the sole province of mothers...
Access to high-quality preschool is critical for children in poverty for which Obama's plan will provide in partnership with states. Those families who can afford it will pay for to attend or can attend another preschool of their choosing. Middle class families need a lower-cost option. By supporting preschool with mixed income levels, poor children benefit more from attending with only other poor children. This is an investment we cannot afford to make.
Great question ajtommie: these government people just throw around figures with no proof at all. The numbers are conjured up to impress us but I guess we're not all mathematically illiterate.
Access to high-quality preschool is critical for children in poverty for which Obama's plan will provide in partnership with states. Those families who can afford it will pay for to attend or can attend another preschool of their choosing. Middle class families need a lower-cost option. By supporting preschool with mixed income levels, poor children benefit more from attending with only other poor children. This is an investment we cannot afford not to make.
I can’t tell how much is this program was good to me and my kids when I need it the most
I lost my job and need to jump start my kids when I was pressured with unemployment and the effort to look and find a job.
Thank for this program I did not leave my kids with strangers instead they were enrolled in the program
At this time my kids are a head in their class
The down side is that the class is not challenging enough because they always ahead.
My younger one is in kindergarten and even the teacher agrees to skip hem 1st grade
For my 1st son kindergarten was so boring to hem his teacher thought he has ADHD, and now he is doing very well in 3rd grade and 1st in his class
I thought if all kids were to start at the same level no one would be left behind and or have to wait for others
The need for universal pre- school is symptomatic of the decline of the family. The long term impact of poverty and the dissolution of the family is very apparent when you work with children. This program is now very necessary much more so than school vouchers and charter schools. It should be a priority.
Terry
We adopted a little girl when she was one year old, she is four now. She can read, write and can do basic math along with many other skills. She has not set foot in any pre K program of any kind. Parenting is the key, nothing more. As a first time parent, I am amazed by how much was learned and retained by simply opening a book and reading it together. What these low achieving children need is a stable home with a mother and father that cares, not more government.
One of my favorite Federal teaching program was, " Junior Achievement". Reagan killed it. It was a high school level program dedicated to teaching the young how to be good corporate citizens.We once had this program that was 100% effective. You don`t have to do any further than look at today`s morons running American companies. They know downsize,outsourse,quality destruction,and "Golden Parachutes" of many millions when their stupidity and greed crashes their companies.....
My children have both been attending public Montessori since age 3 in the Grand Rapids Public Schools in Grand rapids MI. It has been highly successful for them and their classmates in school that is +60% free and reduced lunch. Can your guests talk about specific models like Montessori that are more successful than others for preschool.
High quality child care includes what one might consider academic or preschool curriculum, in additional to an emphasis on social and emotional develoment, good nutrition and physical activity.
High quality child care includes what one might consider academic or preschool curriculum, in additional to an emphasis on social and emotional develoment, good nutrition and physical activity.