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According to a new report (PDF), early childhood investments in Michigan have saved the state money over the long run. If that's true, the state's cutbacks to early childhood programs may be penny wise and pound foolish.
Here's how the blog Early Stories sums up the findings:
The report...found that investments the state has made in fully preparing young children for school has saved an estimated $1.15 billion over 25 years because the boost children got in pre-school programs decreased their need to repeat grades. The solid foundation also saved the state money by identifying disabilities in children early and cutting down on juvenile delinquency.
I'd hate to be in the shoes of Michigan lawmakers. They're facing huge shortfalls and have to make very painful decisions. But I hope more research into the return on every early childhood dollar can stave off further cuts in other states. James Heckman's work is a good place to start.
But there's a message here for education advocates as well. Budgets will stay lean for a good long while, so we'll have to make a very strong case for cost effectiveness. These days, pre-school is popular, but government spending isn't.
Photo: Simonxag, Wikimedia Commons. ...
Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch, an expert on pandemics, has advised the U.S. government on the possible trajectory of the H1N1 influenza virus. He recently spoke with us about what we might expect from the virus this year.
Public School Insights: Do you have any predictions for the kind of flu experience we can expect in the coming months?
Lipsitch: I think that the first thing to say about any predictions about flu is that they are probably wrong. The goal is to be as close to right as possible, but everybody who spends time working on flu becomes very quickly humbled, not making predictions even about the near-term future.
Having said that, I think that the current situation clearly shows that this virus can spread very effectively even when it’s not the usual flu season of December, January and February. I think that given the precedent of prior pandemics and the evidence we have about ...
OECD reports always leave me wanting more. The most recent report on child well being in industrialized countries is no exception. I want more information, better context, greater clarity. The report just seems to gloss over too many factors that affect children’s welfare.
One finding does seem abundantly clear: The United States fares poorly on many measures of child well-being. Our child poverty rate is over 20 percent, almost double the OECD average. We’re in the basement on children’s health and safety: twenty-fourth out of 30 OECD countries. And we do just as poorly in educational well-being. Our achievement gaps are much larger than in most other OECD countries. American students are also more likely than their OECD peers to lack important resources like textbooks, computers, or even a quiet place to study.
The report also finds that U.S. spending on children is higher than the OECD average. (Cue outrage over big spending on social programs....) But the OECD analysis leaves so much out of account that this conclusion is hard to support.
Take, for example, health care spending. The OECD admits leaving it out of the analysis: “Although the analysis does not include public spending on health, many of the indicators of child well-being are related to health.” Oh.... That's kind of a big deal.
In the U.S., poor children receive much worse health care than other ...
Public health officials are bracing for the H1N1 flu virus to hit schools in the fall. A vaccine may come after the flu's onset, and it might be in "limited supply." (For resources on the H1N1 flu, see our H1N1 flu page.)
According to an email I received from someone at WestEd, the Centers for Disease Control are putting together "Web Dialogues" to gather public input into vaccination policy. Here's the CDC's media advisory:
MEDIA ADVISORY - INVITATION FOR COVERAGE
WebDialogue: H1N1 Public Engagement Dialogue
* Make Your Voice Heard on the H1N1 Pandemic Flu Vaccine *
In July, the Secretary of Health and Human Services announced that the federal government expects to initiate a voluntary fall vaccination program against the 2009 H1N1 flu virus. The CDC will help state and local health organizations develop the vaccination program and are working to decide the scope of the program for vaccinating Americans against the novel H1N1 pandemic influenza virus.
The CDC is asking for public discussion, deliberation, and input as the agency considers whether to simply make vaccines available to those seeking immunization, to promote vaccination to those most at risk, or to implement a widespread immunization program. ...
At the H1N1 Influenza (formerly known as "Swine Flu") Summit today, just about every speaker stressed the importance of linking schools with public health systems and community services. Without such connections, they argued, we stand a slim chance of containing another flu outbreak.
Are they proposing a Broader, Bolder Approach to children's health and safety? It turns out that strong, sustained partnerships between schools and government/community resources promote national security as well as student achievement.
Click here for our list of H1N1 resources
...
Child advocates have worried in recent years that recess has been disappearing from public school calendars as schools focus more heavily on academics--primarily math and reading. Is this concern warranted? According to the National School Boards Association's Center for Public Education, the answer is yes and no.
In its recent analysis of research on the fate of recess, the Center reaches the following conclusion: "To borrow from Mark Twain, reports of recess's death seem to have been grossly exaggerated.... Even so, the pressure on schools to find more instructional time is real, and it seems to be leading many districts to shave minutes from the recess time they provide. In addition, children who attend high-poverty, high-minority, or urban schools are far more likely than their peers in other locations to get no recess at all-a definite 'recess gap' that commands our attention." ...
In case you hadn't noticed at first glance, the soberly-dressed person at right is Richard Simmons. (The hair is admittedly a giveaway.) He donned the suit and the earnest expression yesterday to testify before the House Education and Labor Committee about the need to increase time for physical education in public schools.
According to the Washington Post, the affair was less formal than the photograph suggests: The irrepressible Simmons reportedly kissed onlookers, photographers and even Congressmen as he entered the hearing room, and he lent the hearing the atmosphere of "a support group" where lawmakers traded stories of weight loss. ...
Over the past few months, we've been following the fortunes of recent attempts to place a moratorium on a Bush administration decision to prevent schools from claiming Medicaid reimbursements for transportation and administration costs. Just over a week ago, President Bush signed a bill containing this moratorium. To quote our friends at NSBA's Boardbuzz:
Thanks to NSBA's grassroots efforts and lobbying, the President signed the War Supplemental Appropriations Bill this morning delaying the Medicaid rule which would eliminate certain transportation and administration reimbursements to schools for services provided to low-income students with disabilities. The Senate's June 26th vote on the measure, which included the same language as the bill the House passed on June 20, was an overwhelming 92-6. The new law means that federal Medicaid reimbursements to schools for the administrative and transportation services that they provide to eligible students will continue until at least April 1, 2009. ...
Over the past week, Public School Insights has been interviewing the distinguished co-chairs of the high-profile task force behind a new campaign calling for a "Broader, Bolder Approach to Education." As we noted in an earlier post, the task force is advocating for a set of policies to reform schools while offsetting the social and economic disadvantages that contribute to academic achievement gaps.
I recently spoke with campaign co-chair Helen Ladd, a prominent professor of economics and public policy at Duke University. Like co-chairs Pedro Noguera and Tom Payzant, Ladd argues that schools alone cannot close achievement gaps--The nation needs aggressive school reform strategies as well as policies to minimize the impact of poverty on student performance. ...
Currently a professor of practice at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, Tom Payzant has been around the educational block. He has served as an Assistant Secretary of Education under President Clinton, and as superintendent of schools in Boston, San Diego, Oklahoma City, Eugene (Oregon), and Springfield (Pennsylvania). In Boston, he was credited with narrowing achievement gaps and presiding over the largest improvement in mathematics scores of any major urban district participating in the National Assessment of Education Progress Trial Urban District Assessment. He has received many leadership awards, including Massachusetts Superintendent of the Year, and published extensively, promoting academic reforms to both professional educators and policymakers. Recently, he also served as co-chair of the task force that released a statement promoting "A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education." ...
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