This two-page summary document is for those who need to prove that government investment in early childhood education for disadvantaged children pays off for individuals and society. Early Childhood Education is a comprehensive investment of government-subsidized early childhood development programs—including Head Start. Heckman and co-authors Sneha Elango, Jorge Luis García and Andrés Hojman find that…
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Early Childhood Education: Making Sense of All the Research. View Statement
Tulsa, Tennessee, Quebec—we’ve seen a number of new studies on the effectiveness of early childhood education. Some say it works, others say it doesn’t. Professor Heckman and his co-authors Sneha Elango, Jorge Luis Garcia and Andres Hojman provide clarity in Early Childhood Education, a new working paper that makes sense of a number of seemly…
Quality Early Childhood Education: Enduring Benefits. View Statement
This article first appeared in The Hechinger Report on October 15, 2015. Disadvantaged children who receive quality early childhood development have much better education, employment, social and health outcomes as adults, the vast majority of research shows. Unfortunately, this good news is getting lost in the current obsession over third-grade test scores. This is the…
Vanderbilt Pre-K Study: You get what you pay for View Statement
Vanderbilt University’s study of Tennessee’s Voluntary Preschool Program evaluates a low quality early childhood program using a flawed methodology. Randomization was corrupted by noncompliance with the intended experimental protocol. The press release accompanying the report exaggerates the importance of the findings and the quality of the evidence. Many students assigned to treatment refused to cooperate and the investigators…
The Dynamics of Capability Formation Presentation View Presentation
Professor Heckman was invited to speak at the HDCA 2015 Conference as the keynote speaker for the Amartya Sen Lecture. The presentation offered recent research on the economics of creating flourishing lives, discussing the importance of cognitive skills, character skills and health.
Lessons from Sesame Street View Statement
A recent study, Early Childhood Education by MOOC: Lessons from Sesame Street by Melissa Kearney and Phillip Levine, has been generating interest and, unfortunately, generalized comparisons with other early childhood programs. As noted by the authors, the study looks at the effects of access to Sesame Street, not at the value of Sesame Street versus…
A Scaffolding of Support: 8 Guiding Principles View Summary
Here are outline eight guiding principles for effective investments in early childhood development that promote positive social and economic outcomes by building a “scaffolding of support” around disadvantaged young children and their families. When Professor Heckman presents his research on the economics of early childhood to policymakers and advocates, one question is often asked: “If…
2015 Water Cooler Conference Presentation Watch Video
On March 23, 2015, Professor Heckman gave the keynote address at the annual California Early Learning Water Cooler Conference, hosted by the Advancement Project. Drawing on new and longitudinal research, Professor Heckman made the case for refocusing public policy on cost-efficient evidence-based investments in young children and families to reap significant social and economic benefits,…