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Childhood Programs and Practices in the First Decade of Life presents research findings on the effects of early childhood programs and practices in the first decade of life and their implications for policy development and reform. Leading scholars in the multidisciplinary field of human development and in early childhood learning discuss the effects and cost-effectiveness of the most influential model, state, and federally funded programs, policies, and practices. These include Head Start, Early Head Start, the WIC nutrition program, Nurse Family Partnership, and Perry Preschool as well as school reform strategies. This volume provides a unique multidisciplinary approach to understanding and improving interventions, practices, and policies to optimally foster human capital over the life course

In a career spanning six decades, Edward Zigler redefined developmental psychology as the equal integration of scientific inquiry and evidence with social policy formulation and analysis to improve child well-being. The theme of his accumulated work was advancing child development as social action for children and families. Besides early childhood intervention and policy, for which he devoted most of his time, Dr. Zigler did pioneering work in education and school reform, social policy, prevention, child maltreatment, family support, developmental disabilities, and in service to government. In this article, I reflect on four of Dr. Zigler's major contributions to science and society that are underrated and, in many respects, under-appreciated in the larger context of the field. These are (a) historical analysis of Head Start, (b) conceptualization and analysis of motivation as a key component of early childhood program impacts, (c) development of preschool-to-third-grade programs and school reforms, and (d) critical analysis of theory, research, policy, and practice. Together, these and other contributions by Dr. Zigler provide a strong foundation to build a better society for all.

Increasing access to effective preschool programs is a high priority at local, state, and federal levels. Recently, two initiatives to expand preschool programming in Illinois and Utah have used funds from private investors to scale up existing programs. Private-sector social impact investors provide funding to nonprofit or public preschool providers to increase the number of children served. If the measured outcomes from preschool participation meet predetermined goals, then the estimated government cost savings arising from these preschool interventions are used to repay the investors. Social impact investing with a "Pay-for-Success" contract can help budget-constrained governments expand proven or promising preventive interventions without the need to increase taxes. Benefit-cost analysis (BCA) plays a crucial role in helping to identify which social, educational, or health interventions are suitable for this type of innovative financing. Benefit-cost analysts are needed to design the structure of the success payments that the government will make to the private investors. This paper describes social impact borrowing as a new method for financing public services, outlines the contribution of BCA, and discusses the innovative use of social impact financing to promote scaling evidence-based Child-Parent Centers and other early childhood programs.

Budget constraints and difficulty raising taxes limit school districts from expanding education programming even when research shows that additional expenditures would generate economic benefits that are greater than costs. Recently, coalitions of private investors, philanthropists, education practitioners, and government finance analysts have emerged to create opportunities to expand education services that promise high rates of social net benefits without raising taxes or reducing other expenditures. These collaborators have a strong interest in obtaining careful estimates of educational program effectiveness. We describe the use of social-impact borrowing to increase access to the Child-Parent Center preschool-through-third-grade intervention for at-risk students in the Chicago Public School District. The partners include the city, school district, investors, nonprofit organizations, and a university. The key to the feasibility of social-impact borrowing is the ability to document that early intervention can reduce the need for later special-education services. With the help of private investors and nonprofit organizations, it is possible for public school districts to finance services with funds from private sources and use future cost savings to repay this debt. We discuss how social-impact borrowing is being used in Chicago and in Salt Lake County as the nation's first two instances of using pay-for-performance social-impact borrowing to support early education.

Increasing access to high-quality preschool programs is a high priority at local, state, and federal levels. Recently, two initiatives to expand preschool programming in Illinois and Utah have used funds from private investors to scale up existing programs. Private-sector social impact investors provide funding to nonprofit or public preschool providers to increase the number of children served. If the measured outcomes from preschool participation meet pre-determined goals, then the estimated government cost savings arising from these preschool interventions are used to repay the investors. Social impact investing with a "Pay for Success" contract can help budget-constrained governments expand proven or promising preventive interventions without the need to increase taxes. Cost-benefit analysis plays a crucial role in helping to identify which social, educational or health interventions are suitable for this type of innovative financing. Cost-benefit analysts are needed to design the structure of the success payments that the government will make to the private investors. This paper describes social impact borrowing as a new method for financing public services, outlines the contribution of cost-benefit analysis, and discusses the innovative use of social impact financing to promote scaling up of the evidence-based Child Parent Centers and other early childhood programs.

Estimates of program effects from a compensatory preschool intervention were investigated using several contemporary techniques of bias reduction. These included econometric simulta neous modeling, latent-variable structural modeling, and ordinary least squares regression. These techniques were applied to longitudinal data from Chicago's Child Parent Center preschool program, a Head Start-type intervention. Analyses of 806 Black children followed from kindergarten to Grade 6 indicated that the techniques, by and large, produced similar estimates of program impact on school achievement test scores. Effect sizes ranged from .43 to .67 at school entry to .24 to .30 at Grade 6 (7 years postprogram). These findings were robust across different model specifications and similar to those of randomized studies. The only differences among methods occurred at Grade 3. Findings suggest that different quasi-experi mental estimation methods that attempt to control for selection bias can generate similar estimates of the effects of an educational treatment.

Early determinants of college attendance and degree attainment for economically disadvantaged minority youth were examined in the present study. The study sample ( n = 1,379) was drawn from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), an ongoing investigation of a panel of low-income minority children born in 1980, growing up in high-poverty neighborhoods in Chicago. Regression findings indicated that three factors in elementary grades can potentially improve both college attendance and bachelor's (BA) degree completion for economically disadvantaged minority students: better classroom adjustment, high parent expectation in child's education, and better academic performance. Findings have implications for schools, educators, and policy makers.