The Long-Term Benefits of Preschool
New findings from the Perry Preschool Project illustrate preschool’s positive impact on economic mobility for multiple generations. In the 1960s, the experiment assigned a group of black 3- and 4-year-olds from low-income families to a daily preschool program and weekly home visits from staff. Now the participants are in their mid-50s, and Nobel laureate and economist James Heckman finds that the positive effects have extended into middle age and to their children, who saw improvements in education, employment and health.