Early Ed Ineffective

Grover J. "Russ" Whitehurst of the liberal Brookings Institution has written for RealClearPolicy an appraisal of the research on the effectiveness of early childhood education - Head Start and other pre-K programs. The news isn't good:

Based on what we have learned from these studies, the most defensible conclusion is that these statewide programs are not working to meaningfully increase the academic achievement or social/emotional skills and dispositions of children from low-income families.

I wish this weren't so, but facts are stubborn things. Maybe we should figure out how to deliver effective programs before the federal government funds preschool for all.

That is a gutsy thing for a liberal to write. COTTonLINE believes in giving credit where it is due.