CFK reports from: Using Preschool to Close the Education Gap
Event: A panel discussion on the role of preschool in preparing poor and minority children for academic success, with Virginia Governor Mark Warner and Congressman Michael Castle of Delaware.
Organized by: The Brookings Institution Center on Children and Families
Where/When: Washington DC, Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Report by: Susan Phillips

This discussion marked the official launch of Brookings' new Center on Children and Families, jointly directed by Isabel Sawhill and Ron Haskins. The new policy center will conduct research and communicate its findings on issues important to low-income children and families.

Governor Warner said that research makes it clear that "there are few places we can get a better return" on investments of public funds than in the area of early childhood development. However, Warner added, people often have different priorities when it comes to early childhood investments, with some emphasizing early education; others more concerned with child care; and still others most concerned about early health care and nutrition.

Warner said these three "silos" of concern about the early years "need to be merged together," and added that he has tried to address these areas by borrowing elements of programs that have proven effective in other states, such as North Carolina, Georgia and Wisconsin.

He noted that at least 40 states have preschool programs in addition to Head Start, most of them geared towards low-income four-year-olds.

Congressman Castle spoke about last week's passage in the House of a Head Start reauthorization bill that now awaits the possibility of action in the Senate. He said the bill will increase collaboration between Head Start programs and state departments of education, in order to better align the programs and make sure Head Start graduates have the right skills to succeed in school. According to Castle, the bill also puts a sharper focus on the educational component of Head Start, including language, pre-reading, pre-math, cognitive and social development. (Castle, a Republican, is the chair of the Subcommittee on Education Reform of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.)

Moderator Ron Hoskins, saying that some recent research shows Head Start's impact on school readiness has proven "modest at best," asked Castle why there is such strong opposition in Congress to state control of Head Start. Castle said the Head Start Association "is a very effective lobby. They don't want to lose control of their programs," and that Head Start is "very popular back home" in legislator's districts.

Gov. Warner, who said some Head Start programs in Virginia are very good, said it makes sense for Head Start to pay more attention to school readiness, and that he'd also like to see more attention to establishing yardsticks for measuring the effectiveness of individual programs, as well as procedures for helping less-effective programs improve.