Obama’s education plan gives early education high priority; a good deal of input came from James Heckman, a Nobel laureate economist famous for his studies of early childhood education.

Research shows that early experiences shape whether a child’s brain develops strong skills for future learning, behavior and success. Without a strong base on which to build, children, particularly disadvantaged children, will be behind long before they reach kindergarten.

-- From Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Plan for Lifetime Success Through Education 

One heavily cited study in the literature is the Perry Preschool Program, done in the 1960s in Ypsilanti, Michigan. 65 children aged 3-4 with IQs measured as 80 or below were randomly selected to be part of a program involving the children 150 minutes a day in class and home visits for 90 minutes a day. A similar control group was not given the interventions. There was an initial boost in IQ scores with the experimental group, which eventually went away:

However, the long-term effects were eye-popping:

(Data source: Barnett, Benefit-cost analysis of preschool education: findings from a 25-year follow-up.)

Another commonly-referenced study is the Carolina Abecedarian program (1972-1985), where, at age 15, the experimental group had 24% of their students in special education and the control group had 48% of their students in special education.

Note that this does not imply a utility to universal preschooling, only to intervention preschooling. As Mr. Barnett puts it, “children whose home environments were very highly supportive of cognitive development and socialization actually had lower scores if they had been in care outside their homes” and that “children whose home environments were relatively poor gained the most from outside care.” The Obama plan mentions that while access would be “universal” it would also be “voluntary.”

For every one dollar invested in high quality, comprehensive programs supporting children and families from birth, there is a $7-$10 return to society in decreased need for special education services, higher graduation and employment rates, less crime, less use of the public welfare system, and better health.

Barnett calculates (in 1990 dollars) a cost of $12,356 for a gain to society of $108,002, giving a net of $95,646, so $7.74 for every dollar spent. Other estimates are similar. Note that not every economist agrees with the above analysis; most famously a section of Freakonomics claims the ineffectiveness of Head Start (one of the programs targeted for increased funding by the Obama plan).

How does this affect mathematics? I’m going to switch to quoting from a joint position statement between National Association for Education of Young Children and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics:

The institutional divide between teachers in child care, Head Start, or preschool programs and those in public kindergarten and primary programs limits the communication needed for coherent mathematics curriculum. Without communication opportunities, preschool teachers often do not know what kindergarten programs expect, and early elementary teachers may have little idea of the content or pedagogy used in prekindergarten mathematics education.

Vertical integration efforts tend to focus entirely on the K-12 continuum, not treating pre-K as “real” teaching and with little discussion (in mathematics and elsewhere) of what the standards should be. While the disconnect between education research and practice is worry enough, at the pre-K level communication is almost nonexistent. If universal preschool becomes a reality, educators at the higher levels need to get serious about linking standards and doing outreach.

Jason Dyer holds degrees in Fine Arts Studies and Math and teaches at Pueblo High School in Arizona. His school mascot is the Warriors and his other blog of residence is The Number Warrior.

 POSTED ON HOTCHALK.COM

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