NIEER’s Barnett Critiques ‘Juggernaut’ Argument

Ever since the release of Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut, a new book by Fordham Foundation president Chester Finn, we have heard a growing chorus of rebuttals from leaders in the early childhood community to Finn’s 123-page argument against universal pre-K. Yesterday, W. Stephen Barnett, co-director of the National Institute for Early Education Research, published his own 14-point critique of Finn’s reasoning.

Barnett writes that Finn “cherry-picks” evidence that discounts the value of universal pre-K. The book, he says, exaggerates the costs of high-quality, universal pre-K and ignores the research that shows positive long-term academic and social benefits of attending pre-K. Further, the book “seeks to generate fears that big government will mandate cookie-cutter programs in the public schools” when in fact all existing and proposed pre-K programs are voluntary.

To address Finn’s main point, that universal pre-K is a windfall for the rich and that we should only focus on programs targeted to high risk children, Barnett offers two counter-points: 1) “Most families with young children are not rich” and many middle income families are unable to pay for quality early education; 2) Many middle class children experience the same negative educational outcomes — low kindergarten preparedness, school failure and increased high school drop-outs rates — that early education is proven to mitigate. Only a universal pre-K program will guarantee that these children — rich, poor, and middle class — get the early education that will help them succeed.

Barnett acknowledges that Finn raises issues about the universal pre-K movement that are worthy of debate, but he stresses that mischaracterized and inaccurate information can undermine that discussion.

Barnett’s full critique is available here. Also check out our take on Juggernaut as well as views from the Post’s Jay Matthews, Yasmina Vinci of the National Head Start Association, and a Dallas News op-ed by the MaryJalonick of the Dallas Foundation and Regen Fearon of Zero to Three.