The AP published an article this morning which purports to be a fact check of the State of the Union address. What surprised me most was a section in which the reporters critiqued president Obama's call for federally funded universal pre-school. According to Obama, such pre-school was needed to give children the advantage to do much better in their studies over the years that follow. Here is what the AP reporters had to say:
But a study last year by the Department of Health and Human Services that found big vocabulary and social development gains for at-risk students in pre-kindergarten programs also found those effects largely faded by the time pupils reached third grade. The report didn't explain why the kids saw a drop-off in performance or predict how they would fare as they aged.
This is the first time that I have ever seen the AP publish the news that Head Start and other programs like it do no work. Oh, they may help in first and second grade, but by third grade there is no difference between those children who were in Head Start and those of all backgrounds who were not. Spending additional tens or hundreds of billions of dollars to expand Head Start (as Obama wants) would have no long term effect except for employing a few more teachers. It would be a total waste in the long term.
Kudos to the AP for telling the truth for once.
But a study last year by the Department of Health and Human Services that found big vocabulary and social development gains for at-risk students in pre-kindergarten programs also found those effects largely faded by the time pupils reached third grade. The report didn't explain why the kids saw a drop-off in performance or predict how they would fare as they aged.
This is the first time that I have ever seen the AP publish the news that Head Start and other programs like it do no work. Oh, they may help in first and second grade, but by third grade there is no difference between those children who were in Head Start and those of all backgrounds who were not. Spending additional tens or hundreds of billions of dollars to expand Head Start (as Obama wants) would have no long term effect except for employing a few more teachers. It would be a total waste in the long term.
Kudos to the AP for telling the truth for once.
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