Category Archives: Early childhood programs

The Head Start experiment versus prior research on Head Start: the curious case of the changing control group

Posted on September 24, 2014 by timbartik

In my new book, From Preschool to Prosperity,  one issue about Head Start that I discuss is the change over time in results from studies of the effectiveness of Head Start. Earlier studies of Head Start find evidence of Head … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | Comments Off on The Head Start experiment versus prior research on Head Start: the curious case of the changing control group

Early childhood programs work at a large scale

Posted on September 22, 2014 by timbartik

As I discuss in my just-published book, From Preschool to Prosperity, critics often argue that the research evidence for preschool only comes from small-scale programs run by researchers. Therefore, the argument goes, we don’t know if preschool can work if … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Early childhood programs work at a large scale

High-quality random assignment experiments continue to provide part of the evidence for the economic payoff to early childhood education

Posted on September 18, 2014 by timbartik

My new book, From Preschool to Prosperity (available free as a pdf, for $0.99 on various e-book platforms, and also in hard copy form), explains why the research evidence for the effectiveness of early childhood education is credible. Among this credible … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | Tagged | Comments Off on High-quality random assignment experiments continue to provide part of the evidence for the economic payoff to early childhood education

Parental earnings benefits of early childhood programs shouldn’t be forgotten

Posted on September 17, 2014 by timbartik

One point made in my recently-published book From Preschool to Prosperity (available free as a pdf, and for $0.99 in various ebook formats, and also in paperback) is that parental earnings benefits are an important economic benefit for many early … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Parental earnings benefits of early childhood programs shouldn’t be forgotten

Even under conservative estimates, early childhood education can do quite a bit to address income inequality

Posted on September 16, 2014 by timbartik

On September 16, the latest Census Bureau statistics on poverty and income distribution were released. Among other things, these latest stats showed a stagnant trend in relative income of different groups, based upon the Current Population Survey, which omits some … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Even under conservative estimates, early childhood education can do quite a bit to address income inequality

Conor Williams’s review of “From Preschool to Prosperity” in The Washington Monthly

Posted on September 16, 2014 by timbartik

Review is here, cross-posted at New America’s Ed Central. Conor Williams is a Senior Researcher in the Early Education Inititiative at the New America Foundation. “Bartik bridges the distance between accessibility and expertise. From Preschool to Prosperity is supremely organized … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Conor Williams’s review of “From Preschool to Prosperity” in The Washington Monthly

What are economic benefits and why do we care?

Posted on September 16, 2014 by timbartik

My just-published book, From Preschool to Prosperity: The Economic Payoff to Early Childhood Education, focuses on preschool’s economic benefits. What are “economic benefits” and why should we care about them? Many people have an adverse reaction to focusing on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | Comments Off on What are economic benefits and why do we care?

Pre-K benefits do not depend on anti-crime benefits and small-scale extremely intense programs

Posted on July 30, 2014 by timbartik

A recent Vox article by Libby Nelson made some useful points about pre-K, but also encouraged some misconceptions. The article pointed out that in many benefit-cost studies of pre-K, for example of the Perry program and the Chicago CPC program, … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Pre-K benefits do not depend on anti-crime benefits and small-scale extremely intense programs

Where is the weight of the evidence, and the burden of proof, for targeted vs. universal pre-K?

Posted on June 20, 2014 by timbartik

The Hamilton Project has released a useful e-book that presents evidence on selected anti-poverty policies. This includes some discussion of pre-K programs, by Elizabeth Cascio and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach. The Cascio/Schanzenbach chapter argues for expansion of high-quality targeted pre-K.  My … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs | 1 Comment

What do we know about pre-K peer effects?

Posted on May 21, 2014 by timbartik

A recent opinion piece by David Kirp in the New York Times argued that it makes no sense to put low-income children in income-segregated pre-K programs, as we do in the Head Start program, because of the importance of classroom … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood program design issues | Comments Off on What do we know about pre-K peer effects?