An extensive literature documents the instrumental role of early childhood in improving individuals' life chances. This dissertation consists of three connected chapters that study the effects of early childhood circumstances on human capital formation and its economic consequences. The first chapter examines the impact of family size on…

The growing fiscal cost of K-12 teacher pension plans and pension-induced labor market distortions have led to calls for teacher pension reforms. Dynamic structural econometric models are a useful way to analyze the fiscal and staffing consequences of current and alternative retirement plans. This article lays out the benefits of the structural…

The authors highlight two first-grade teachers who teach in New York City. Using a read-aloud, they explore differences between equity and equality and then engage children in a real-world scenario that engages concepts of fairness when allocating resources to disparate groups of people.

Early childhood education and care is critical to Wisconsin's families and businesses, offering a safe place for children to grow and learn during formative years while parents and other guardians participate in the workforce. Despite its importance, child care can be prohibitively expensive for some Wisconsin families, and the industry operates…

Children's experiences during early childhood are critical for their cognitive and socio-emotional development, two key dimensions of human capital. However, children from low income backgrounds often grow up lacking stimulation and basic investments, leading to developmental deficits that are difficult, if not impossible, to reverse later in life…

For early childhood educators, social studies help young children learn what it means to be contributing, productive members of their family, as well as of their classroom, school, neighborhood, community, and the world. In PreK-grade 3 classrooms, children learn about rules--at home, in school, and in the community. While the need for social…

In partnership with the John M. Belk Endowment, MDC has researched and written the report, "North Carolina's Economic Imperative: Building an Infrastructure of Opportunity," part of our work with the endowment to study, address, and propose solutions for the low mobility rate of too many North Carolinians. The report examines patterns of…

Well-being is generally acknowledged as a complex concept, and leading discourses are rooted in disciplines such as philosophy, psychology and economics. Despite a wealth of theoretical explanations, child well-being is largely under-theorised. Some argue it is unlikely that philosophical discourses of well-being will straightforwardly be extended…

This article explores discourses of economic investment and child vulnerability that have become dominant under New Zealand's National-led Government as a rationale for policy directions in early childhood education. It highlights the need for explicit values about children and childhood to be a basis for early childhood policy development, with a…

"Proceedings of International Conference on Studies in Education and Social Sciences" includes full papers presented at the International Conference on Studies in Education and Social Sciences (ICSES) which took place on October 20-23, 2023, in Antalya, Turkey. The aim of the conference is to offer opportunities to share ideas, to…

Public policies have actively responded to an emergent social and neuroscientific evidence base documenting the benefits of targeting services to children during the earliest period of their development. But problems of low utilization, inconsistent participation, and low retention continue to present themselves as challenges. Although most…

This book makes a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary argument for investing in effective early childhood education programs, especially those that develop in children their proven natural capacity to construct knowledge by building meaningful relationships. Recent insights in the fields of law, policy, economics, pedagogy, and neuroscience…

For some 5-year-olds, delayed kindergarten enrollment may result in long-term academic benefits. Although waiting an additional year allows for further development prior to the start of formal education, the economic costs of the next best alternatives can be significant. This study examines the impact of short-term economic fluctuations on a…

This document contains all of the Minnesota kindergarten academic standards in the content areas of Arts, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. For each content area there is a short overview followed by a coding diagram of how the standards are organized and displayed. This document is adapted from the official versions…

In this essay, Jennifer Keys Adair aims to clarify the concept of "agency" as a tool for improving the educational experiences of young children in the early grades. She conceptualizes agency in the context of schooling as the ability to influence what and how something is learned in order to expand capabilities, drawing on economic…