Certainly neither of the VP candidates who debated last night. In fact, as the Parents as Teachers National Center board of directors met today, they wondered if early education doesn’t have a place in the presidential agendas, will it have one on the aegendas of the people the next president appoints?
Follow this logic:
If Parents as Teachers + preschool = higher third-grade achievement, particularly, reading scores…
And even Chairman Ben Bernanke talks about the high returns early childhood programs can offer in terms of school success and fewer social problems…
And James Heckman, Nobel laureate and leading economist at the University of Chicago, has research showing that early childhood programs offer a higher rate of return than any ‘traditional’ investment by raising the quality of the workforce (He puts a return on investment as high as 15-17% on it)…
Then shouldn’t support for early childhood education be at the top of someone’s agenda ?!
During the first presidential debate, Barack Obama made quick mention of early childhood education. John McCain didn’t utter the word education at all.