EPICER

EVALUATING THE POLICY IMPACT OF CHILDHOOD EDUCATION REFORMS

Clinical research in early childhood development suggests that quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) programs can facilitate the development of children's cognitive skills. This research also suggests that the early-life environment has an impact on the development of the brain and, consequently, the formation of socio-emotional and behavioral skills. With many scientists now viewing the provision of quality ECEC as one of the most cost-effective mechanisms for stimulating health, well-being, and human capital over the life-course, the provision of quality ECEC to all children was recently enshrined as a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal.

Our research aims to understand the impacts of large-scale ECEC reforms occurring in high-income countries between 1995-2008 and determine which interventions have been most effective for increasing coverage of services, and ultimately, adolescent scholastic achievement, health, and well-being.

Research work will begin in Autumn 2019 - news and publications will be posted here and via Twitter at @prosperedproj

This research is supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Investigators

Arijit Nandi (PI) holds a Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy of Global Health. He is an Associate Professor jointly appointed at the Institute for Health and Social Policy and the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health. An epidemiologist by training, Arijit is broadly interested in the impact of social and economic factors on population health. His primary research interests are: (1) assessing multilevel associations between economic characteristics and population health; (2) investigating the relation between social and economic policies and population health and health disparities in a global context; and (3) estimating causal effects of economic interventions on mental health. A former Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar at Harvard University, Arijit received a PhD from the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Emis Akbari is a Professor and Coordinator at the School of Early Childhood at George Brown College and an Adjunct Professor in the department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at OISE at the University of Toronto.  She is also a member of the Atkinson Centre for Society and Child Development at OISE.  Emis’ initial research examined issues surrounding early life adversity on brain and behavioural development in animal models. Her current research focuses on early childhood education policy and reform and its impact on child and family outcome at all levels of government. Emis is the co-author of the Early Childhood Education Report.  This report provides a snapshot of provincial and territorial preschool services and performance on different criteria including access to child care programs and investments in early education.  It also compares Canada to other developed economies.  She is ardent and committed to evidence-based change in policy and global development and its connection to improving child education, development, and outcome. She is the co-founder and president of The NayaSophia Foundation, committed to improving the education, health, and needs of young orphans in Haiti. She is also the author of The Mighty O, the story of a boy who was born with a congenital heart defect and the challenges he and his family have overcome.

Jere R. Behrman (Ph.D. Economics, MIT, 1966; Kenan Professor of Economics and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania). His research is in empirical micro economics, economic development, early childhood development, labor economics, human resources, economic demography, household behaviors, life-cycle and intergenerational relations and policy evaluation.  He has published over 450 professional articles and 35 books. He has worked with numerous international organizations and governments, been involved in professional research or lecturing in over 40 countries, principal investigator or investigator on over 160 research projects and received various honors for his research, including: Econometric Society Fellow, 40th Anniversary Fulbright Fellow, 2008 biennial Carlos Diaz-Alejandro Prize for outstanding research contributions to Latin America,  2011 Doctor Honoris Causa from University of Chile, member of the. US National Institutes of Child Health and Development (NICHD) Advisory Council, 2017 Population Association of America Irene B. Taeuber Award, member of the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Committee on Population. 

Frank Elgar is a psychologist with research expertise in social inequalities in health and in family influences on child mental health. He received his doctorate in developmental psychology from Dalhousie University and has worked in university and government settings in Canada and the United Kingdom. At McGill, he is an Associate Professor for the Department of Psychiatry and has a joint appointment with the Institute for Health Research and Social Policy and is a co-investigator with the Canadian team participating in the World Health Organisation - Health Behaviour of School-aged Children Behaviour in School-aged Children study. Based at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute, his research is a blend of psychology and social epidemiology. He explores social and economic determinants of health and human development, focusing primarily on links between income inequality, social capital and population health. His other research examines the effects of financial stress and parental mental illness on child health.

Linda White is the RBC Chair in Economic and Public Policy and a Professor of Political Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Her areas of research include comparative welfare states, comparative social and family policy, particularly education, early childhood education and care, and maternity and parental leave; gender and public policy; ideas, norms, and public policy development; and federalism, law and public policy. She is currently the Principal Investigator of a SSHRC Insight Grant on school choice and education policy; a co-investigator on a project on the future of work and educational and policy responses; and a co-investigator on a project on the regulatory implications of parents’ perceptions of risk in child care. Professor White obtained her B.A. (Hons.) from the University of Victoria, her M.A. from Queen’s University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto.

Seungmi Yang is an assistant professor at the Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health at McGill University. She is affiliated with the Institute for Health and Social Policy and the Centre on Population Dynamics at McGill University and holds a chercher-boursier junior 1 grant from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé. Her research interests lie in lifecourse epidemiology and socioeconomic health inequalities as two important themes in population health. Dr. Yang and her research team pursue various methodological approaches in design and analysis to better understand the complex interplay between prenatal and postnatal factors and their health consequences.