Askwith Panelists Examine Obama's Early Childhood Plan

Early childhood education panelists called President Barack Obama’s recent proposal for universal preschool a historic decision but cautioned it was only a first step in a long line of work.

At the Askwith Forum, “Politics and Preschool: President Obama's Plan for Early Education,” on Wednesday, April 10, moderator Professor Hirokazu Yoshikawa and panelists Ajay Chaudry, deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Jacqueline Jones, former deputy assistant secretary of Policy and Early Learning  at the U.S. Department of Education; Assistant Professor Stephanie Jones; and Professor Jack Shonkoff shared their expectations, hopes, and fears surrounding the future of this policy.

“Not a lot has changed until this moment,” said Stephanie Jones.

The forum came the same day Obama released his national budget which proposes spending billions on the early childcare initiative, including $75 billion over the next 10 years for a major expansion of preschool programs for low- and moderate-income 4-year-olds .

“There’s a lot of detail that needs to be figured out,” said Jacqueline Jones, noting that the budget was “aspirational.”

Even with the president’s focus, and potential funds directed toward universal preschool, the panelists stressed the need to create high-quality programs. Noting that one of the existing challenges is defining and creating those high-quality programs, Stephanie Jones expressed fear that the creation of “mediocre” programs nationwide could potentially do more harm than good. Yoshikawa and Shonkoff agreed.

“We need to change the way we talk about quality,” Shonkoff said. He suggested a business approach where we constantly strive to do better, as well as build capacity and skills for teachers.

Beyond these issues of quality are concerns about aligning the curriculum with kindergarten and beyond, how to scale a program, conduct evaluation of programs, and prepare teachers adequately.

Panelists stressed that ultimately it was the early childhood educators and parents in the audience that would determine the future of this initiative.

“This is a litmus test for the early childhood field,” Jacqueline Jones said. She encouraged audience members to set the bar extremely high and not rest until ever y dollar was spent to meet best practices. At the same time, she said it would take a long time to get there and not to expect changes overnight.

With the addition of universal preschool initiatives around the country, Yoshikawa said that ongoing education issues would continue to exist. “Not all programs are effective,” he said. “This is not a magic bullet that will solve all our problems.”