I admit: I’ve spent a lot of time since becoming a parent trying to figure out what cutting-edge research and science have to say about raising successful kids. I also admit that my wife and I have tried to put the fruits of that research to work.
Example 1: Move to the best neighborhood you can afford, even if it means you have the smallest house on the block. Check .
Example 2: Embrace the “run to their side” mode of parenting versus the “let them figure it all out on their own” model. Check .
Example 3: Praise effort, not results. Seriously, Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, could have built an entire career on backing up this theory alone. Check .
One bit of research that inspired me, however, came from a small but compelling study out of Montreal . Researchers found that boys whose teachers described them as more attentive and prosocial at age 5 or 6 went on to earn significantly more money as adults.
The lead researcher also pointed to quality daycare and targeted support as ways to improve long-term outcomes for children who struggled early.
A few points worth noting about that study:
First, replicating this in the U.S. would have been difficult, because access to individual income-tax records is tightly restricted. But the Canadian researchers were able to correlate early childhood records with adult earnings taken from tax returns.
Second, as for why the researchers looked only at boys, it was because of funding and interest. The grants were about “understanding the development of juvenile delinquency,” one of the researchers told me. “Boys . . . are much more at risk.”
Anyway, we moved to the nicest neighborhood we could afford, and we ran to our child’s side, and I’ve twisted myself into a metaphorical pretzel sometimes trying to remember to praise effort, not results—heck, I even memorized the definition of “prosocial.”
So I was gratified to find another new study recently that backs up some of what we had already done.
Short version: A new study of nearly 28,000 low-income children in Miami-Dade County found that those who attended public school pre-K at age 4 had better grades and higher reading and math test scores in third grade than children who had attended center-based or family-based childcare, backing up some of what we had already done.
The researchers controlled for the children’s cognitive skills at age 4, along with race, gender, and poverty status. It was an observational study, so it established an association—not absolute proof that public school pre-K caused the difference.
One possible explanation? Public school pre-K was the only one of the three settings studied that required teachers to have a college degree.
“They had more education and probably higher-quality teachers,” said Charles Bleiker, an FIU associate professor of teaching and learning and a coauthor of the study. “It really tests the idea that having better-trained teachers or better curricula actually helps these kids. Critics often say teachers don’t need to be highly educated to teach young children. . . . Our data says otherwise.”
Bleiker also pointed to public school teachers’ preparation in developmental psychology and classroom management.
Basically, if you can control a class, you’re more likely to be able to focus on learning and development.
“It makes a huge difference if you’ve been trained,” Bleiker said. “Novice teachers without formal training struggle more. Some of these were mom-and-pop centers hiring people who aren’t fully qualified to teach.”
I don’t mean to join the pile-on against mom-and-pop centers. I have a sense people are doing the best they can.
For that matter, prekindergarten is in the rearview mirror for my family, public or otherwise.
Still, track thousands of kids over a period of years, and you get my attention.
Every parent can use another example.
—By Bill Murphy Jr. , founder of Understandably and contributing editor, Inc.
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This article originally appeared on Fast Company ’s sister website, Inc.com.
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