Is Zero to Five Possible?
Pre-Kindergarten Research BlogArchive for February 13, 2009
3) Source Notes: The Economics of Education
Summary: Preschool education increases children’s chances for success in elementary school and later life which will improve the economy because less of our tax dollars will be spent on social welfare programs.
Topic: zero to five
Category: Business Institutional
What is it? An online report
Publication Information: Entergy Co; 2008; Arkansas
Author: Oppenheim, Jerrold; MacGregor, Theo
Accessed: 2/12/09
Support:
Research and Policy Committee of the Center for Economic Development
US Department of Health and Human Services
Megan Tench, Boston Globe
Each of these sources contributed to research and publications supporting the economic benefits of creating universal quality preschool.
Audience and Agenda: This report, published by Entergy, was published to inform business leaders of the importance of high -quality preschool education. Hugh McDonald, CEO of Entergy, supported the study, not only to support the community, but his business; approximately 20% of his customers live below the national poverty level. Entergy used the study to convince the business community that pre-k programs deserved funding by using the economic angle, with the support of the business community and child advocacy groups, the study was presented to policy makers with overwhelming success in Arkansas.
Usefulness: This source will be useful because it was supported by a high-powered man with selfish motives. He successfully hypothesized that high-quality preschool would improve the economy. The target audience of the source is business and community leaders, and it argues that the economy will benefit from preschool education for low-income children. The source leaves out charts and specific details; however it provides an in depth summary of the findings of the study.
Works Cited:
http://preknow.org/community/profiles/mcdonald.cfm
3) Protect Our Kids from Preschool*
Protect Our Kids from Preschool (Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2008)
Summary: The Wall Street Journal reports evidence that preschool will not benefit children in later life because despite the increase in preschool attendees, national test scores.
Topic: Zero to five
Category: Mainstream Journalistic
What is it? A web version of an editorial found in the Wall Street Journal
Publication Information: Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2008, New York, NY
Author: Dalmia, Shikha and Snell, Lisa
Location: http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121936615766562189.html
Accessed: 2/12/09
Support:
Barack Obama, president
James Heckman, University of Chicago laureate in economics
Education Week, education journal
These sources represent Obama’s claims that universal preschool will benefit all, a University of Chicago laureate who worked side-by-side with Obama, but rejects his claims, and a journal that analyzed the decrease in student performance in states that implemented universal preschool.
Audience and Agenda: The Wall Street Journal is typically considered a right-winged newspaper. The article was printed in the opinion section in August, 2008, before the election of democrat, Barack Obama, who supports pre-school funding. It was printed to discourage people from believing that Barack Obama’s policies would be successful, and also to expose evidence that preschool does not benefit students academically. Wsj.com is estimated that 2.4 million people view the website per month and it has just over one million subscribers. The print version of the Wall Street Journal has nearly two million subscribers.
Usefulness: This article is to prove that preschool will benefit society. The evidence used is weak and doesn’t include any specific studies. The article states that although preschool attendance increased in the past 30 years test scores have not. The study fails to include the demographics of the people who have began attending preschool. Universal preschool mainly focuses on equal chances for low-income students, and it is possible that their attendance has not increased. Additionally, funding hasn’t increased for preschool even though more children attend. This lowers the quality which David Kirp, in his book The Sandbox Investment, stresses is most important in order to see long-term benefits from a pre-school program. It claims that Pew Charitable Trusts and Pre-K Now are ignoring important evidence and aims to discredit their extensive findings.
Works Cited:
http://www.reason.org/dalmia.shtml
http://www.reason.org/snell.shtml
4) Going to Scale with High-Quality Early Education
Title: Going to Scale with High-Quality Early Education (RAND Corporation 2005)
Summary: According to RAND Corporation, quality universal preschool programs have the potential to benefit underprivileged children, their families, and American society because by educating America’s youth, we can reduce crime and increase employment which will reduce the taxes that support law enforcement and unemployment benefits.
Topic: Zero to five plan
Category: Non-profit institutional
What is it? A technical report published online
Publication Information: RAND Corporation; 2005; Santa Monica California
Author: Christina, Rachel; Nicholson-Goodman, JoVictoria
Location: http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2005/RAND_TR237.pdf
Accessed: 2/12/09
Support:
D.J. Ackerman, researcher for Education policy
G. Adams and M. Rohacek, researchers for Early Childhood Research Quarterly
American Foundation of Teachers
W. Steven Barnett, Director of NIEER
These sources represent a variety of researchers from publications and non-profit organizations that support funding universal preschool and research ways to make it feasible.
Audience and Agenda:
This study was funded by the Early Childhood Funders’ Collaborative aiming to increase funding for preschool education. Their purpose is to facilitate networking and share information for funders to collaborate on specific projects that will inform and influence policy makers. RAND education is a non-profit organization with goals to improve every aspect of education.
Usefulness: This source report includes both benefits of universal preschool as well as consequences. It also shows that the benefits outweigh the consequences and offers solutions to possible problems in implementing universal preschool.
Works Cited:
http://www.gcyf.org/partners/partners_show.htm?doc_id=362950
2) A Vision for Universal Preschool Education
A Vision for Universal Preschool Education (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Summary: Psychology professors Edward Zigler and Walter S. Gilliam of Yale University and Stephanie M. Jones of Fordham University, assert in their book that extensive research proves the need for a universal preschool education system in the United States to improve the quality of life for the preschool attendees as well as all American citizens.
Topic: Zero to five
Category: Academic Research
What is it? A book found in the Knight Library
Publication Information: Cambridge University Press; 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY; 2006
Authors: Zigler, Edward; Gilliam, Walter S.; Jones, Stephanie M.
Location: Knight Library; call number: LB 1140.23.Z54; also in google books
Accessed: 2/12/09
Support:
Ramona Blackman-Jones, School Psychologist Trainee at Winthrop University
Richard M. Clifford, Senior Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institutes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Research Associate Professor in the School of Education, co-director of National Prekindergarten Center and the National Center for Early Development Learning
Matia Finn-Stevenson, a Research Scientist at Yale University and Associate Director of the Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy
Christopher C. Henrich, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Georgia State University
Margeurite Malakoff, Researcher in Pasadena California
Kelly L. Maxwell, Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute
Arthur J. Reynolds, Professor of Child Development at the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota
Sally J. Styfco, Associate Director of Head Start Section at the Edward Zigler Center in Childe Development and Social Policy at Yale University and Research Associate at the Yale Child Study Center
Judy A. Temple, Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota.
These sources work together to analyze various benefits of universal preschool education.
Audience and Agenda: This source was published to inform other education and psychology professionals as well as policy makers of the importance of preschool education. It was funded by Yale University and state universities.
Usefulness: This source provides a psychologist’s professional perspective regarding high-quality early childhood education. It discusses how students should begin learning at a young age to best retain knowledge. The findings of Zigler and his colleagues contribute to the academic world. The book goes in depth on the subject and only leaves out recent information and information on Barack Obama’s policies because it was published in 2006.
Works Cited:
