Category Archives: Early childhood programs

Public radio interview about Michigan’s expansion of pre-K

Posted on June 1, 2013 by timbartik

I was recently interviewed by the local public radio station, WMUK, about the recent legislative agreement on the expansion of Michigan’s state-funded pre-K program, the Great Start Readiness Program. Governor Snyder’s proposal for expanded pre-K has now passed both houses … Continue reading →

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Comments on Heckman book, “Giving Kids a Fair Chance”

Posted on May 26, 2013 by timbartik

Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman has a recent (March 2013) short book, Giving Kids a Fair Chance. The book has a short essay (about 40 small pages) by Heckman, followed by comments on Heckman’s essay by 11 commentators with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs, Economic development | 4 Comments

Moving the U.S. towards a more universal, high-quality early education system

Posted on May 20, 2013 by timbartik

Lane Kenworthy, a well-known comparative sociologist of inequality issues at the University of Arizona, has a thought-provoking blog post on why the U.S. should more towards a high-quality early education system. Based on his own extensive knowledge of Scandinavian social … Continue reading →

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Helping child development and long-run economic development by helping low-income parents

Posted on May 15, 2013 by timbartik

Pediatrician Perri Klass wrote an article in the New York Times on May 13, 2013, that focused on the growing interest by pediatricians and other medical professionals in child poverty as a national problem. She argues that evidence suggests that … Continue reading →

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Judging from reactions to my TED talk, here are some common misunderstandings about pre-K research

Posted on May 13, 2013 by timbartik

As mentioned before, TED decided to highlight my TEDx talk from last year as a TED “talk of the day” for May 6. This has since led to 132,000 (and counting) views for this talk. I found the comments on … Continue reading →

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What would it cost to transform “The Hell of American Day Care”?

Posted on May 7, 2013 by timbartik

Jonathan Cohn, a senior editor for The New Republic, wrote an outstanding article there a few weeks ago, entitled “The Hell of American Day Care: An investigation into the barely regulated, unsafe business of looking after our children”. The entire … Continue reading →

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My preschool and economic development presentation is TED’s “talk of the day”

Posted on May 6, 2013 by timbartik

On May 6, 2013, TED posted a fifteen minute presentation by me on pre-K and economic development as its “Talk of the Day”. TED slightly re-edited this from a TEDx talk I gave at Miami University last year. In just … Continue reading →

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Expanded pre-K is fiscally sustainable

Posted on April 11, 2013 by timbartik

The popular Washington Post blog “Wonkblog” had a post on April 11 2013 from Brad Plumer that got my attention with this headline:  “Funding preschool with a cigarette tax is unsustainable”. The gist of the article is as follows: Although … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs, Timing of benefits | 8 Comments

My presentation at the Wisconsin Family Impact Seminar

Posted on April 8, 2013 by timbartik

I made a presentation on early childhood programs and state economic development in Madison, Wisconsin, as part of a program for state legislators and state policymakers sponsored by the Wisconsin Family Impact Seminar, on February 13, 2013. This presentation included … Continue reading →

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Recent research on how educational benefits of high-quality child care vary by income

Posted on March 25, 2013 by timbartik

An excellent recent paper by Greg Duncan and Aaron Sojourner has important implications for understanding the effects of different types of early childhood programs for different income groups. Duncan and Sojourner look at the effects of the Infant Health and … Continue reading →

Posted in Distribution of benefits, Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs | 2 Comments