Dan Lips, of The Heritage Foundation, recently wrote a column on No 4-Year-Old Left Behind.
He is addressing a recent announcement by Senator Hilary Clinton to use federal dollars to encourage to start having universal government-subsidized preschool. Currently only Georgia and Oklahoma offer such programs. Dan Lips writes:
"Parents and taxpayers should read the fine print before embracing the latest federal initiative geared to help children. The Clinton plan is based on two flawed assumptions—first, that preschool is an essential component of all children's early education; second, that it's the federal government's responsibility to promote and manage it.
On this first issue, parents and taxpayers should be skeptical of promises from politicians that universal preschool will solve the problems in American education. Supporters of universal preschool tout studies that show how at-risk students have benefited from early intervention programs and argue that all children would benefit from early education.
But a careful look at the available research evidence casts doubt on these claims. Evaluations of early education interventions have shown that while participating students may yield gains in the short-run, these benefits typically disappear over time. Other academic studies, such as a 2005 study published by Stanford and University of California researchers, have reported that students who attend preschool may be more likely to exhibit negative social behaviors."
He makes a number of other good points about what a federally funded program pushing for universal preschool is a bad, bad idea.
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Technorati tags: preschool, daycare
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