Focused Research

This week I was asked to imagine that I had unlimited funds and resources to conduct research that would have a lasting impact on the field of early childhood education. As I pondered this I thought about autism research primary in developing therapies to address social-emotional impact of autism in girls as that is a subject that close to me, but as I thought about my week meeting several advocates for Head Start and knowing that many members of our Congress are not convinced of the lasting benefits of Head Start I decided that if I could I would conduct a longitude study on the positive effects of Head Start on low income children and the working poor.

Head Start currently serves over a million children a year providing more than just an early start for school, but also provide medical screenings and nutrition, as well as parent education. They provide a vital service to the country, but is already underfunded leaving several communities who are in the most need of quality early education without it, and programs currently in operation are always in fear of losing funding. If a long term study that looks at the the fiscal impact of Head Start be able to show policymakers that the return on investment on early care and education is worth the initial cost both fiscally and and on  society as a whole could be conducted I think that it would have a lasting impact on the field.