Resources:
Sarah Rigg's Feature Article: Ypsi school research plays a role in case against cutting or eliminating Head Start program
HighScope Head Start Alignments
Transcription:
Lee Van Roth: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is On the Ground Ypsi. When the Trump administration announced possible cuts to federal education spending this year, research from Ypsilanti was cited to push back against the prospect of eliminating the Head Start Early Childhood Education Program for low-income families. The Perry Preschool Study, which took place over the course of five years in the 1960s, studied the differing outcomes for students who were enrolled in a high-quality preschool program at the former Perry Elementary School, and students who were not, and ultimately led to the founding of the Ypsi nonprofit, the HighScope Educational Research Foundation. Here to discuss the study's findings, their lasting impact over 60 years later, and why Head Start is so crucial to young students and families here in our community is HighScope president, Dr. Alejandra Barraza. Dr. Barraza, welcome, and thank you so much for being here!
Dr. Alejandra Barraza: Thank you very much for the invitation!
Lee Van Roth: So, for those unfamiliar, could you give us just a brief explanation of what the Perry Preschool study set out to investigate when it began back in the 1960s.
Dr. Alejandra Barraza: In 1962, it actually began here in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Our founder, David Weikart, was concerned that children in the public school system in Ypsilanti. Predominantly, African-American children were being placed in special education programs and also were entering kindergarten not as prepared as their peers. So, he set out to work with the principal at the Perry Elementary and asked him if they could do a project together. And it was basically to turn their gymnasium into a preschool classroom for three to four hours where children were able to attend preschool. There were 123 participants that were randomly chosen to participate. And over the last 58, 59 years, we've been able to follow these participants and been able to analyze the impact that it's had on the children that actually participated in this preschool program. Like I said, the study continues today. We're still learning from it today. And we wanted to learn about how could the preschool program help young children living in difficult circumstances and what was it that they could do better in school. And what we learned over this data collected over the last 57 years is that the children that participated in this program had better outcomes--economic outcomes. They finished high school and went to college. They're actually the third generation now. We're able to even analyze their grandchildren and the impact it also had on the third generation. We also have been working with the University of Chicago with Dr. Jim Heckman, who was a Nobel laureate who won the Nobel prize in economics with his equation that really identified that for every dollar invested in high-quality early childhood, the return of fund investment to the community is from $7 to $13. And so, this all occurred here in Ypsilanti, Michigan. And out of this research in 1970, we were able to establish the HighScope Educational Research Foundation that now led to a curriculum and an approach that has been built and used across the United States and other countries for early childhood classrooms.
Lee Van Roth: And can you give us a little bit of insight into how this study has kind of been brought to the forefront in this conversation of ensuring that funding for programs like Head Start continues to exist and be rewarded out to these organizations? How did the Perry Preschool study sort of come into the conversation and used in this way to promote and uplift these programs like Head Start?
Dr. Alejandra Barraza: Yes. Well, even back in the 60s, our founder, David Weikart, was summoned to Washington D.C. when there was a conversation of investing in starting Head Start. So, we've had a connection to Head Start from the start in really giving the research and the data that's been collected and why it was important. Of course, Head Start, being a service that offers comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition, and family support services to low-income families, it's very important, because it is not only to the children but also to the families. I also want to add that I myself was a principal in the Head Start program in San Antonio, Texas that serviced 750 children. And so, I was able to experience the everyday impact that Head Start had on the children that we serve.
Lee Van Roth: There are aspects to Head Start or to this particular study, too, that you see as something that policymakers across party lines, regardless of where they're sitting, what about this resonates with everybody? Why is it coming to light now that the programs like Head Start are important and need to continue existing and therefore need this funding from federal sources in order to continue providing those resources? What about this study in the work that you're doing over at HighScope has kind of fit into this conversation?
Dr. Alejandra Barraza: Right. And the results from the data collected with the Perry Preschool Study really demonstrated that the children who participated in the program definitely had better jobs, had better economic productivity, there was prevention in crime. So, it's a clear guideline that there was strong return upon investment, because we saw the outcomes not only throughout the K-12 time that they were there, but also as adults, which is really important of why when we're investing in high-quality early childhood. The return upon investment is to society as to how it's going impact us, from social programs, from reduction of food stamps or crime prevention. What we learned, even with the data collected with the Perry Preschool study, is that the participants that did have crimes had nonviolent crimes. So, we think about just the impact that it has in the future and then the impact that these participants had, for example, on their siblings, the impact they've had now on their children and their grandchildren. So, overall, we have a clear measure with clear economic numbers that say that when you invest in high-quality early childhood, the return upon investment will come back. And so, you did mention that this is a bipartisan conversation because whether you see it from the lens of saying we know that the outcome is going to be great for the individual, we also know, for example, that when trying to attract businesses, for example, to a community, businesses will rely also on high-quality early childhood provided to their employees. And so, it's just an important area that we need to consider that we need to always be invested in. I mean, there was no other better time than when it was COVID, when we saw the need of the workforce to come back to their jobs, the need to have childcare for these businesses around the community to restart the economy. And so, this is a conversation, I appreciate that you say, that it is a bipartisan conversation because, at the end, it's beneficial for all.
Lee Van Roth: This is WEMU's On the Ground Ypsi. I'm talking with Dr. Alejandra Barraza, president of the High Scope Educational Research Foundation here in Ypsi. Dr. Barraza, in your experience, whether that's through your work with HighScope or you mentioned your previous work in a Head Start program as well, what are the specific needs of communities like the one we have here in Ypsi that these high-quality early childhood education programs like Head Start are directly addressing? Why is it so vastly important for a community like ours here in Ypsi to have this resource available?
Dr. Alejandra Barraza: You know, it's very important always to think about the educators that, in their hand, they have for many hours our children from our community. So, it's been very important not only to build an approach, but also an approach that helps us support teachers and for training and also for coaching to be able to stay also in the field. We are seeing a loss of educators because there are a lot of challenges being placed on them. Also, we need to make sure that we're supporting them adequately. And even here on our campus, here at HighScope, here in Ypsilanti, we've been able to get support from the Bayne Foundation, who have demonstrated that what happens when we have a childcare program and we're able to provide additional support for the educators, we see an important impact not only on the children but on their families and on educators who will stay in the field. So once again, it is so important that all communities across the United States--underserved communities everywhere--are provided with the opportunity of high-quality child care because that is really the future where our children are going to be heading as adults as well. So, we're very happy that we continue to be here in the area that will continue our research. All the work that is done here at HighScope, as a nonprofit, which is incredibly important in the education field, it returns to our research.
Lee Van Roth: Dr. Barazza, thank you so much for joining us here today! And thank you so much for your continued support of our communities, students, families, and educators. And this is a very big deal for Ypsi to have this spotlight put on Ypsi and the work being done here! And thank you again!
Dr. Alejandra Barraza: Thank you very much for the invitation!
Lee Van Roth: For more information on today's topic and links to the full article, visit our website at WEMU.org. On the Ground Ypsi is brought to you in partnership with Concentrate Media. I'm Lee Van Roth, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting at Eastern Michigan University!
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