The Shaky Science Behind Obama’s Universal Pre-K

Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- “Study after study shows that theearlier a child begins learning, the better he or she does downthe road,” said U.S. President Barack Obama in Feb. 14 speechin Decatur, Georgia. “Every dollar we invest in high-qualityearly education can save more than seven dollars later on --boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, reducingviolent crime.”

Obama wants to help our nation’s children flourish. So doI. So does everyone who is aware of the large number of childrenwho are not flourishing. There are just two problems with hissolution: The evidence used to support the positive long-termeffects of early childhood education is tenuous, even for themost intensive interventions. And for the kind of interventionthat can be implemented on a national scale, the evidence iszero.