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Ruth Sullivan -
April 13, 2018 |
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Susan Prentice -
February 13, 2018 |
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Marcus Johnsen -
January 30, 2018 |
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Jill Campbell -
December 28, 2017 |
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Sue McCart -
December 21, 2017 |
| Those of us who work in the field of Early Childhood Education in Canada have long known our country lags in comparison with other OECD nations. This report is a long overdue resource that focuses on the Canadian context, the benefits of ECE for child outcomes, ECE as support for vulnerable families, and for increasing women's participation in the work force. Few answers but worth the read. |
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Vincent Chandler -
November 30, 2017 |
| This report has two major flaws, which make the cost-benefit analysis very misleading. First, the report assumes it is possible to increase the number of spots by paying only for these spots. This is not feasible. The only way to increase participation in early-childhood programs is to reduce cost for all families. It is impossible to target only families that are presently not using daycare activities. By reducing the cost for all families using daycare, the cost of increasing the number of kids in ECE is significantly higher than the cost mentioned in the report. Second, the report assumes that the causal impact of such programs as Perry Preschool Programme can be used to approximate the causal impact of increased access to daycare. This programme is very different from a normal daycare and targets a very different socio-economic group. There is no evidence that Ontario introducing full-day kindergarten increased cognitive skills (Brownwell et al., 2014). Baker, Milligan and Gruber (2008) actually sugggest negative effects: "Finally, the evidence suggests that children are worse off by measures ranging from aggression to motor and social skills to illness. We also uncover evidence that the new child care program led to more hostile, less consistent parenting, worse parental health, and lower-quality parental relationships." Overall, I am very disappointed by the quality of this report. The Conference Board should consider addressing these issues before it influences Canadian policy makers who may not be able to detect its flaws. |
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Cheryl Wardell -
November 14, 2017 |
| Great analysis of the cost benefits of increasing ECE opportunities for Canadian children. The tie towards higher child math scores is interesting as is the potential increase in women's labour force participation. |
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