commentaries

What would you wish for the next baby born: Two loving parents that CARE about reading to the baby and checking up on homework or pre-K quality daycare that wants the child to learn??? Both help, but which is needed more for a 15yr old boy with worries about school?

"The challenge is to sustain [cognitive gains made in high-quality preschool programs or reliable old Head Start by at-risk students] beyond early elementary school." But "our K-12 schools are not structured to [differentiate instruction and] build on whatever gains children bring with them," so let's dump Head Start! And even the highly intensive and expensive birth-to-kindergarten Abecedarian program which did produce lasting cognitive gains did not produce "statistically significant differences in graduation rates, employment or criminal activity" than Head Start so let's dump high-quality preschool programs, as well.

What about all-day kindergarten? Well, all-day kindergarten "produced greater achievement gains during the year itself, [but] there were no significant differences in academic performance by the end of third grade." So let's dump all-day kindergarten (even though it works). Unless K-3 is reformed "to stress early literacy and vocabulary, and to dramatically increase instruction time for disadvantaged children." (Would that there were such a model! All-day kindergarten perhaps?)

Chester Finn knows that the problem is "students' chaotic homes and neighborhoods--and the low-quality schools they generally attend."

Head Start, high-quality preschool and all-day kindergarten all work, but the gains can't be sustained because the students go back to low-quality schools. What to do? What to do? "[T]here's only one reliable way to shrink the learning gap. That's to ensure--somehow--that far more low-income boys and girls come from homes with two dedicated parents who give them the love and support they need to succeed in school." Of course! Instead of replicating successful pre-K and K programs in students' elementary schools, somehow implement a "cultural sea change". That's the ticket....

The argument that Kersten and other right-wingers typically make to discourage any use of public funds to deal with the education gap is one she puts forth, predictably, here: what kids really need are homes with "two dedicated parents who give them the love and support they need to succeed in school." Who could disagree that loving, supportive parents are the ideal solution -- perhaps, to most of society's problems -- though I'd suggest that a dedicated single parent can also provide the love and support a child needs. But the problem is, Kersten's solution is a non-solution, as she half-acknowledges when she suggests that this traditional family structure is something society should "ensure -- somehow." How? Maybe a few more newspaper columns on personal responsibility, family values, etc., will do the trick? The irony is, measures that would help low-income parents provide the support their kids need (a living wage, decent health insurance, paid sick days, parental leave, etc.) also almost always opposed by Kersten and her ilk. Their desire to encourage more two-parent families is also ironic, given their opposition to ensuring that family planning services are available to poor women. Their opposition to sex education in schools, which could result in fewer 16-year-olds raising babies by themselves, is also counterproductive. Yes, it would be great if legislators could pass a law ensuring two dedicated parents for every child-- "somehow." But since we live in the real world, where there are no silver bullets, investing additional resources in early childhood education is probably one of our best options -- until that "cultural sea change" Kersten dreams of comes along.

By all means, KK, let's not do pre-k because *it won't solve the problem all by itself*. Great thinking there.

HHS has data which proves that Head Start is a failure. It has no lasting affect and is nothing more than a day care for single mothers to warehouse their children so they can spend the day watching reruns of Oprah.

I would be happy to pay more taxes so some irresponsible parent doesn't have to step up and fulfill their parental responsibilities. Better yet if there's no long term measurable results. Perhaps we could also install money burning stoves in these people's homes and they could use our tax dollars as fuel. It makes about as much sense as funding Head Start.

---- A 2005 RAND study found that while such programs produced greater achievement gains during the year itself, there were no significant differences in academic performance by the end of third grade.--- We don't graduate children in the 3rd grade we graduate them after high school. And when the Federal Reserve studied and evaluated the data in that context there are significant gains by students..

"We don't graduate children in the 3rd grade we graduate them after high school". If they had no benefit after third grade why do you think there were benefits after third grade? That makes no sense.

>>> Head Start, high-quality preschool and all-day kindergarten all work, but the gains can't be sustained because the students go back to low-quality schools. What to do? What to do? "[T]here's only one reliable way to shrink the learning gap. That's to ensure--somehow--that far more low-income boys and girls come from homes with two dedicated parents who give them the love and support they need to succeed in school." Of course! Instead of replicating successful pre-K and K programs in students' elementary schools, somehow implement a "cultural sea change". That's the ticket.... <<< Yes, let's just obsess on expensive programs that create - at best - a small boost in performance that fades in an unsupportive family environment, and mock the suggestion that family support is more important in the long run than government programs of questionable effectiveness and unquestionable expense. That's the ticket...

>>> The argument that Kersten and other right-wingers typically make to discourage any use of public funds to deal with the education gap is one she puts forth, ... <<< What she "and other right-wingers" are doing is reminding those of us open-minded enough to listen is that these programs are expensive distractions from a deeper and more profound problem - family breakdown, combined with a culture that is too often hostile to the promotion of success-maximizing behaviors. If it weren't for Ms. Kersten, there would be no diversity of opinion regarding this important topic. Two cheers for ideological tokenism!