Principal investigator: Eduarda Miller de Figueiredo
Author James J. Heckman
Location of the Intervention: –
Sample Size:
Sector: Education
Primary Variable of Interest: Cognitive and non-cognitive skills
Type of Intervention: Family atmosphere
Methodology: –
Summary
This article provides a general synthesis of several studies analyzing human development and its relationship with environments and experiences in early life. Heckman presents numerous references highlighting this relationship, as well as an analysis of the return rate of interventions and second-chance programs. Finally, it concludes that the child's early environment has a significant impact on their cognitive development. Furthermore, it reinforces that early interventions targeting disadvantaged children have much higher return rates than later interventions.
- Policy Problem
The literature concludes that virtually all aspects of early human development, from the evolving circuits of the brain to a child's capacity for empathy, are affected by the environments and experiences the child has been exposed to, from the prenatal period and throughout the first years of childhood. This is because early family environments are the main predictors of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities (Carneiro and Heckman, 2003; Cunha et al., 2006).
According to the author, this occurs because of two characteristics that are intrinsic to the nature of learning: (i) early learning gives a “value” to acquired skills, consequently leading to “self-motivation” to learn more; (ii) early mastery of cognitive, social, and emotional skills makes learning at later ages more efficient (Shonkof and Phillips, 2000).
- Implementation and Evaluation Context
Many of the major economic and social problems can be attributed to the low skill and qualification levels of the population. In the United States, there will be far fewer graduates in the workforce over the next 20 years than in recent years, and it is also important to note that more than 20% of the American workforce is functionally illiterate (Delong, Katz, and Goldi, 2003; Ellwood, 2001; Statistics Canada, 2002).
The research conducted demonstrated the early emergence and persistence of gaps in cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Environments that do not stimulate and encourage these skills from an early age put children at an early disadvantage. According to the Colema ReportIt is families, not schools, that are the primary sources of inequality in student performance (Coleman, 1966).
Therefore, this is a source of concern, given the deterioration of family environments. Increasingly, American children are being born to teenage mothers or living with single parents, situations that are associated with inadequate parenting practices and a lack of positive cognitive and non-cognitive stimulation (Heckman and Masterov, 2004). In other words, such disadvantages are powerful predictors of adult failure in social and economic measures.
- Policy/Program Details
Heckman, therefore, goes on to discuss the Perry Preschool Program (Schweinhart et al., 2005) which is a 2-year experimental intervention for disadvantaged African American children aged 3 to 4 years. This program involved morning programs at school and afternoon visits by the teacher to the child's home.
The "right time" to invest in "second chance" policies was also discussed. The author points out that if society waits too long to compensate, it is economically inefficient to invest in the skills of the less fortunate, especially since recovery programs in adolescence and young adulthood are much more expensive to produce the same level of skill acquisition. In other words, most of these problems are economically inefficient.
- Assessment Method
The author conducted an experimental evaluation in which the children started at age 3 or 4 and were followed up until they were over 40 years old.
Furthermore, the author comments on a randomized study conducted by Carneiro and Heckman (2003), which analyzed the cost-benefit of classroom size on adult income in Tennessee.
- Main results
The group treated by Perry The children in the treatment group had IQ scores at age 10 that were no higher than those in the control group. However, the children in the treatment group had higher performance test scores than the children in the control group, as they were more motivated to learn. In follow-ups up to age 40, the treated group showed higher rates of high school graduation, as well as higher wages, lower rates of welfare assistance, and fewer arrests compared to individuals in the control group (Schweinhart et al., 2005). Similar results are obtained for other early intervention programs (Karoly et al., 1998; Masse and Barnett, 2002).
In the third grade, the differences in test scores between socioeconomic groups are stable by age, suggesting, according to Heckman, that later schooling and variations in the quality of education have little effect on reducing or widening the gaps that appear before students begin their schooling (Cunha et al., 2006).
The results for classroom size in the study by Heckman and Carneiro (2003) demonstrated some effect of reduced classroom size on test scores and adult performance. However, it is important to emphasize that most of the effect was found in the early grades. Therefore, schools and school quality with current funding levels contribute little to the emergence of differences in test performance or development.
Figure 1 presents the rate of return, that is, the flow of dollars from a unit of investment at each age for a marginal investment in a disadvantaged child. It shows that the economic return from early interventions is high, while the return from later interventions is lower. Therefore, Figure 1 highlights that, with current funding levels, there is too much investment in most school and post-school programs, but too little investment in pre-school programs for disadvantaged people.
Based on these findings, the author concludes that early interventions targeting disadvantaged children have much higher returns than later interventions.
Figure 1: Rates of Return on Investment in Human Capital for Disadvantaged Children
Source: Heckman (2006).
- Lessons in Public Policy
In his conclusion, the author emphasizes that investing in disadvantaged young children is a rare public policy initiative that promotes equity and social justice while simultaneously boosting productivity in the economy and society as a whole. However, at current levels, society overinvests in remedial skills at later ages and underinvest In the early years. That is, the author emphasizes the need to change the timing of investments in corrective skills.
References
Carneiro, P.; Heckman, JJ (2003). Inequality in America: What Role for Human Capital Policies?
Coleman, JS (1966). Equality of Educational Opportunity. US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of EducationWashington, DC.
Cunha, F.; Heckman, J.J.; Lochner, L.; Masterov, D.V.; Hanushek, EA; Welch, F. (2006). Handbook of the Economics of Education. Chap. Interpreting the Evidence on Life Cycle Skill Formation, 1, 697-812.
Delong, J.B.; Katz, L.; Goldin, C. (2003) in Agenda for the Nation, 17-60. Aaron, H.; Lindsay, J.; Nivola, P. Eds. Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Ellwood, DT (2001) in The Roaring Nineties: Can Full Employment Be Sustained? 421-489. Krueger, A.; Solow, R. Eds. Russell Sage Foundation, New York.
Heckman, J.J.; Masterov, D. V. (2004). The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children. Working Paper No. 5, Committee on Economic Development, Washington, DC.
Karoly, LA et al. (1998). Investing in Our Children: What We Know and Don't Know About the Costs and Benefits of Early Childhood InterventionsRAND, Santa Monica, CA.
Masse, LN; Barnett, W. S. (2002). A Benefit Cost Analysis of the Abecedarian Early Childhood Intervention. Rutgers University, National Institute for Early Education Research, New Brunswick, N.
Schweinhart, LJ et al. (2005). Lifetime Effects: The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40High/Scope, Ypsilanti, MI.
Shonkoff, J.P.; Phillips, D. (2000). From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Child Development. National Academies PressWashington, DC.
Statistics Canada (2002). International Adult Literacy Survey, 2002: User's Guide, Statistics Canada, Special Surveys Division, National Literacy Secretariat, and Human Resources Development Canada. Ottawa, Ontario.
