Learning & Development
Policy Brief/Analysis
Early Childhood Education
Pathways to Better Health
Date
April 1, 2013
By Allison Friedman-Krauss and W. Steven Barnett
NIEER Policy Brief (Issue 25, April 2013)
The potential health benefits of early childhood education programs are quite large, especially for children living in poverty. In this report, authors Allison Friedman-Krauss and Steve Barnett set out the evidence regarding the short and long term health benefits to children from early childhood education programs, identify the features of high-quality programs that can produce these benefits, and offer recommendations to improve the contributions of such programs to health.
The Authors
Allison Friedman-Krauss is an Assistant Research Professor at NIEER where she is also the Associate Director for Policy Research and Director of the Infant and Toddler Policy Research Center.
W. Steven (Steve) Barnett is a Board of Governors Professor and the founder and Senior Co-Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. Dr. Barnett’s work primarily focuses on public policies regarding early childhood education, child care, and child development.