Sen. Tom Harkin: Fixing Economy Starts With Early Education:

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Sen. Tom Harkin: Fixing Economy Starts With Early Education

First Posted: 03/ 8/2012 8:58 pm Updated: 03/ 8/2012 9:33 pm

When Sen. Tom Harkin asked a panel of education experts at a Thursday Senate committee hearing how they would improve the country's public schools, he was surprised by what they didn't say.

A Harvard University professor said he would improve “assessments," a Stanford University economist mentioned teacher evaluations, and a public policy expert called for a national high school exam modeled on the French Baccalaureate.

Harkin (D-Iowa) saw an omission. “Early learning,” he said. “Are we doing enough in the early years to get kids ready for school?”

Experts almost invariably answer no. At the hearing Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), a familiar face among education professionals, said that Head Start, by far the country’s biggest early childhood program, reaches only half of eligible children.

In fact, the most up-to-date data tell an even more dire story: Just 30 percent of eligible children participate in the program, and only 2 percent are enrolled in Early Head Start, a service for families