Join us for a scholarly brown bag lunch presented by the Department of Child, Youth and Family Studies. Speaker: Dr. Brenden Timpe Assistant Professor of Economics

Description: More than 50 years after its launch, Head Start remains one of America’s most popular public programs, but skepticism remains about its long-run impacts on children and their families. This presentation will feature new evidence on the long-run effects of Head Start using large-scale, restricted administrative data. Using the county-level roll-out of Head Start between 1965 and 1980 and age eligibility cutoffs for school entry, we find that Head Start generated large increases in educational and economic outcomes, including a 0.65-year increase in schooling, a 2.7 percent increase in high school completion, an 8.5 percent increase in college enrollment, and a 39 percent increase in college completion. These estimates imply sizable, long-term returns to investments in means-tested, public preschool programs. I will also discuss preliminary evidence on a new evaluation of modern-day Head Start programs. Using variation in Head Start’s eligibility rules, the new project explores the impact of preschool on children’s educational progress, parental employment, and family income.

Bring your brown bag lunch. Snacks and refreshments will be provided.