Lance T. Izumi at the Pacific Research Institute comments on actor-turned-child advocate Rob Reiner’s enthusiasm for universal pre-school programs — in a nutshell, it’s a wobbly proposition to spend $2 billion (wink, wink) based on flimsy research:
In fact, the RAND report, which was funded by the pro-universal-preschool Packard Foundation, could only identify one study that looked at the longer-term benefits to more-advantaged children. RAND acknowledges, ?This study found that children participating in preschools not targeted to disadvantaged children were no better off in terms of high school or college completion, earnings, or criminal justice system involvement than those not going to any preschool.? Yale professor Ed Ziglar, co-founder of Head Start, says that significant evidence shows that ?there is little if anything to be gained by exposing middle-class children to early education.?
