Category Archives: Early childhood programs

Published Duke study of North Carolina early childhood programs finds good evidence for spillover benefits for overall student achievement

Posted on December 18, 2013 by timbartik

The recently-published version of a Duke University study provides good evidence that high-quality early childhood programs have sizable spillover benefits for overall student achievement.  The research also suggests that these programs can have ratios of earnings benefits to costs that … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Economic development | 1 Comment

Final two short videos released on early childhood programs

Posted on December 16, 2013 by timbartik

Two more short videos on early childhood programs have been released, combining my words with videos and animation by Detroit Public TV. One of these videos discusses short-term benefits of early childhood programs. These benefits include reducing remedial education costs, … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Timing of benefits | 1 Comment

Pre-K policy should be based on all the evidence, not one study of one state’s programs

Posted on November 22, 2013 by timbartik

Dr. Grover Whitehurst’s latest criticisms of Obama’s preschool plan at the Brown Center website at the Brookings Institution have drawn some attention. He has done numerous posts criticizing Obama’s preschool plan, some of which I’ve responded to in previous posts. Dr. Whitehurst’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits | 6 Comments

My one-page issue brief (with links!) on “Facts from Early Childhood Research”

Posted on November 13, 2013 by timbartik

At the request of the group ReadyNation, I prepared a one-page issue brief. This issue brief was designed to provide a brief review of the facts about early childhood programs for business leaders who are involved with ReadyNation. The one-page … Continue reading →

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

Update on my short videos on early childhood programs: 4th video added, and videos now available on ITunes

Posted on November 5, 2013 by timbartik

With production by Detroit Public TV, and funding from Michigan’s Early Childhood Investment Corporation, I have been working on six videos on early childhood programs. The videos are short (about a minute and a half each). They focus on key … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs, Economic development | 4 Comments

Early childhood education: the economics of early versus later interventions

Posted on October 28, 2013 by timbartik

Nick Kristof had an excellent column on early childhood education in the October 27th edition of the New York Times. In this column, he argues that early childhood education is “the best tool we have to break cycles of poverty”. … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs | Comments Off on Early childhood education: the economics of early versus later interventions

Using test scores to evaluate early childhood programs does not imply that they should be used for accountability purposes for individual program centers or teachers

Posted on October 14, 2013 by timbartik

In some of my blog posts and published articles, I have used effects of early childhood programs on early test scores to evaluate programs.  For example, in my Tulsa study with Gormley and Adelstein, we estimated the effects of Tulsa’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues | 3 Comments

New short minute and a half videos (with animation!) on why preschool makes sense

Posted on October 9, 2013 by timbartik

I have been working with Detroit Public Television and Michigan’s Early Childhood Investment Corporation on preparing short videos about early childhood programs, including preschool. The project was initiated and financed by ECIC; I prepared the scripts; Detroit Public TV did … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | 2 Comments

New evidence suggests universal pre-K increases overall pre-K enrollment for all income groups, but provides mixed evidence on test score effects

Posted on October 2, 2013 by timbartik

A new paper by Elizabeth Cascio and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach provides important new evidence on the effects of universal pre-K. This paper was presented in late September at the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity. Cascio and Schanzenbach examine the effects … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs, Timing of benefits | Comments Off on New evidence suggests universal pre-K increases overall pre-K enrollment for all income groups, but provides mixed evidence on test score effects

The potential of parenting programs, as well as pre-K programs

Posted on September 11, 2013 by timbartik

A recent report by the Center on Children & Families of the Brookings Institution has some useful information on parenting in the United States, and some useful research results for the HIPPY parenting program. The report is by Richard V. … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs | 3 Comments