Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of Life: A Human Capital Integration

Description

Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of Life presents research findings on the effects of early childhood programs and practices in the first decade of life and their implications for policy development and reform. Leading scholars in the multidisciplinary field of human development and in early childhood learning discuss the effects and cost-effectiveness of the most influential model, state, and federally funded programs, policies, and practices. These include Head Start, Early Head Start, the WIC nutrition program, Nurse Family Partnership, and Perry Preschool as well as school reform strategies. This volume provides a unique multidisciplinary approach to understanding and improving interventions, practices, and policies to optimally foster human capital over the life course.

Arthur J. Reynolds is a Professor in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota and the director of the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS). He is also co-director of the Human Capital Research Collaborative. Reynolds investigates the effects and economic benefits of early childhood programs, and the Chicago study is one of the most extensive life course studies of early experience. His interests include child development and social policy, evaluation research, prevention science, and school and family influences on educational success and adult well-being. His publications include Success in Early Intervention: The Child-Parent Centers (2000), Early Childhood Programs for a New Century (2003), several adult follow-up studies, and two cost-benefit analyses of the Child-Parent Center Program. Arthur J. Rolnick is senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and an associate economist with the Federal Open Market Committee. He has been a Visiting Professor of Economics at Boston College, the University of Chicago, and the University of Minnesota. Most recently he was an Adjunct Professor of Economics in the MBA program at Lingnan College, Guangzhou, China, and the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. His research interests include banking and financial economics, monetary policy, monetary history, the economics of federalism, and the economics of education. Rolnick's essays on public policy issues have gained national attention, and his work on early childhood development has garnered numerous awards, including those from Edutopia, the George Lucas Educational Foundation, and the Minnesota Department of Health. Michelle M. Englund is a research associate and affiliate member of the Graduate Faculty in Child Psychology at the Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota. Her research interests are in the areas of education and substance use. More specifically her work in the area of education examines how relationships (with parents, peers, and teachers) influence educational success across development, and her work on substance use behaviors examines the developmental predictors of patterns of substance use in adolescence and early adulthood and adult functioning resulting from the interplay between earlier development and substance use. Englund's research has been published in Child Development, Development and Psychopathology, Addiction, and the Journal of Educational Research. She is a co-investigator on the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Judy A. Temple is an Associate Professor in the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and the Department of Applied Economics and Adjunct Professor in the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota. Previously, she was an Associate Professor of Economics at Northern Illinois University, where she taught and conducted research in public economics. Her major interests are public economics, economics of education, early education, cost-benefit analysis, and policy evaluation. Temple's recent work focuses on evaluation of the long-term effects of early educational interventions. She conducted the economic analysis of the nationally recognized Child-Parent Center Program and is co-principal investigator in the Chicago Longitudinal Study, which has followed 1,500 young children from low-income neighborhoods into adulthood. She has published articles in the National Tax Journal, the Southern Economic Journal, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and the Economics of Education Review.

"This volume is the encyclopedia of early childhood education and development. It's all here - the basic research, the programs, the evaluations, the human capital framework, the benefit-cost studies, and the best researchers, theorists, and policy analysts. It would be impossible to put more information, theories, insights, and good writing about early childhood between two covers. Both students and experts will find a lot to like in this comprehensive and nicely organized volume." - Ron Haskins, The Brookings Institution "This volume presents a clear, evidence-based challenge to those who claim that programs to enhance opportunities for low-income children are ineffective. Not only are well-implemented programs proven to be cost effective, they also improve the prospects of all children. Thus, the nation benefits from the ripple effects of early human capital investments, both in the short- and long-term." - Ruby Takanishi, Foundation for Child Development "....Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of Life: A Human Capital Integration brings the reader very close to the concrete reality of the academic, practical, political, social, and economic challenges that face people who are working in the field. The book is interdisciplinary in nature and seeks to develop a life-span and ecological systems perspective on childhood program investment that focuses not only on the efficacy of programs but also on the continuity of program provision throughout child development, as well as the long-term cost-effectiveness of programs into adulthood.... The book is a truly informative, challenging, and inspiring read for anyone interested in the design of our children's future...." -Michael Hogan, PsycCRITIQUES