Category Archives: Early childhood programs

What does research say about the proposed expansion of Michigan’s Great Start Readiness Program?

Posted on March 20, 2013 by timbartik

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder recently proposed a major expansion of the state’s pre-K program, called the Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP).  From reports in Gongwer News Service, legislators and others have expressed various doubts about the proposed expansion. This blog … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood program design issues, Early childhood programs, Local variation in benefits | Comments Off on What does research say about the proposed expansion of Michigan’s Great Start Readiness Program?

An analysis of the Dalmia/Snell Wall Street Journal article on Georgia and Oklahoma, or the difficulties of case study analysis

Posted on March 6, 2013 by timbartik

A recent opinion column (March 1, 2013)  in the Wall Street Journal, by Shikha Dalmia and Lisa Snell of the Reason Foundation, criticized proposals for universal preschool programs on the basis of the experience of Georgia and Oklahoma, which have … Continue reading →

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What does the Fitzpatrick study of Georgia’s “universal” pre-K program show?

Posted on March 5, 2013 by timbartik

During the current debate over expanding pre-K, expansion opponents have sometimes cited a study by Maria Donovan Fitzpatrick of Georgia’s pre-K program. For example, on February 25, 2013, the Wall Street Journal editorial page described the conclusions of Fitzpatrick’s study … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | 3 Comments

Responding to the Wall Street Journal editorial on preschool expansion

Posted on March 1, 2013 by timbartik

On February 26, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial criticizing President Obama’s proposal to expand preschool.  The editorial was entitled “Head Start for All: Universal preschool and a government that won’t admit failure”.  Given the prominence of the Wall … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | 2 Comments

Steve Barnett’s take on what the facts show about pre-K

Posted on February 27, 2013 by timbartik

Steve Barnett, Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, has written a very useful brief report about what research shows about pre-K programs. This report, which is 15 pages long, is entitled “Getting the Facts Right on Pre-K … Continue reading →

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An analysis of Charles Murray’s critique of Obama’s proposal for expanded pre-K

Posted on February 26, 2013 by timbartik

In response to a reader request, I am taking a closer look at a recent article by Charles Murray, entitled “The Shaky Science Behind Obama’s Universal Pre-K”. The article was published on February 20, 2013 by Bloomberg News. Charles Murray … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | 14 Comments

What do we know about Head Start’s effectiveness?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by timbartik

An ongoing policy dispute is about how effective Head Start is as a preschool program. Head Start has other goals, for example improving public health. However, an important issue is how Head Start’s effects on kindergarten readiness, K-12 test scores, … Continue reading →

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

Fact-checking FactCheck on preschool

Posted on February 21, 2013 by timbartik

FactCheck’s recent column criticizing President Obama’s claims about his preschool program gave a misleading description of the overall research evidence on preschool. FactCheck describes itself as “a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania”, and … Continue reading →

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

NPR’s spin on universal preschool is unduly negative

Posted on February 18, 2013 by timbartik

NPR’s Morning Edition on February 18, 2013 had an interview by NPR host Linda Wertheimer with NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam that gave an unduly negative spin to what research shows about the effectiveness of universal preschool. The program began … Continue reading →

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

Research supports the effectiveness of many state and local pre-K programs

Posted on February 14, 2013 by timbartik

In the debate over President Obama’s pre-K proposal, one important issue is whether pre-K programs can work on a large-scale, not just in small “hothouse” programs run by researchers.  A closely-related issue is whether pre-K works for middle-class children, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Early childhood programs | 1 Comment