James Heckman: An Economist who Promotes Preschool

Just as the New England Patriots have an award-winning hero in quarterback Tom Brady, early education has a Nobel Prize-winning champion in University of Chicago economist James Heckman.

Heckman’s public policy position is simple and powerful: To make society stronger, invest in early childhood development. Drawing on more than a decade of his own research, Heckman argues that high-quality preschool prepares children to succeed and makes them less likely to enroll in special education classes, become pregnant as teenagers or land in jail.

In addition to a clear message, Heckman is an effective messenger. He’s quoted in newspaper stories, and he has a pervasive social media presence, making his case on his website, as well as on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

“What I learned that became so important,” he explains in one his videos, “was that investing in people was as important as buildings or structures or roads.” And if policy makers seek a 10 percent annual rate of return on their investment, Heckman says, they should invest in early childhood.

He sums up his argument with the Heckman Equation:

Invest ……… in resources for disadvantaged families

+ Develop…… cognitive and social skills in children from birth to age five

+ Sustain ……. early development with on-going education through adulthood

= Gain …………. more capable, productive workforce

Now Heckman has a new book out called “Giving Kids a Fair Chance: A Strategy that Works.” It’s a collection of essays by Heckman and other experts – including some who disagree with Heckman’s analysis. Published by the MIT Press, the book is based on a forum of articles published by the Boston Review.

“The accident of birth is a principal source of inequality in America today,” Heckman writes in his lead essay. “American society is dividing into skilled and unskilled, and the roots of this division lie in early childhood experiences.” Disadvantaged families can’t as easily provide the resource-rich early childhood experiences that wealthier families can.

“The worrisome news, then, is that early environments play a powerful role in shaping adult outcomes, and more and more American children are growing up in adverse environments,” Heckman writes. “The good news is that environments can be enhanced to promote important skills in children and that society need not passively observe its own polarization and decline.”

Researchers looked at both programs, Heckman explains, conducting studies that “demonstrate substantial positive effects of early environmental enrichment on a range of cognitive and non-cognitive skills, school achievement, job performance and social behaviors — effects that persist long after the interventions have ended.”

In his contribution to the book, Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, expands Heckman’s argument, writing, “To make the kind of dramatic progress we need, we have to rethink our definition of public education, so it begins before kindergarten and goes beyond classroom walls.”

“Without bolstering early education for children, our public schools will be handicapped in fulfilling their mandate for a large portion of their students – particularly those of poor parents.” Canada goes on to describe the Harlem Children’s Zone’s Baby College “where we have learned that if parents are treated with respect, they are open to changing their assumptions about raising a baby.” These parents “learn to talk, read and sing with [their babies] to encourage optimal brain development.”

In an essay that is more critical of Heckman, Annette Lareau, a sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that Heckman fails to “give sufficient weight to the role of social institutions in shaping the life chances of children.” She points to childcare centers, social service providers, employers, healthcare providers, police and the courts – noting that while “data are limited, it appears that working-class parents bear the brunt” when these institutions fail to act justly.

The final essay in the book is Heckman’s reply to the book’s other contributors. Mostly, he sticks to his guns, writing, “Skills beget skills. The early years are crucial in creating the abilities, motivation and other personality traits that provide success downstream: in school, in the workforce and in other aspects of life.”

Eye on Early Education focuses on the twin goals of ensuring that Massachusetts children have access to high-quality early education and become proficient readers by the end of third grade.

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THE BLOGGER

Alyssa Haywoode comes to Eye on Early Education after a career in journalism that included writing editorials for the Des Moines Register and Boston Globe. She has written about education, human services, immigration, homelessness, philanthropy and the arts.