NHSA Educational Hearing on Capitol Hill

NHSA assembled some of the finest researchers in academia to discuss the needs and benefits of Head Start. At our educational hearing on January 29, 2003 on Capitol Hill, these leading researchers made presentations on poverty in America and on the effectiveness of Head Start. In addition, various documents were distributed. You can access them here.

Biographies

Research on Effects of Poverty Panel

Wendell Primus
Director of Income Security at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Dr. Primus is working to expand the Center's research in areas including Social Security, unemployment insurance, child support enforcement, child welfare, income and poverty trends, and federal policy. At the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Primus served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. In this capacity, Dr. Primus was primarily responsible for policy development and for the conduct of research and evaluation on issues relating income assistance, employment, and related human service programs. Dr. Primus has also served as Chief Economist for the House Ways and Means Committee and Staff Director for the Subcommittee on Human Resources. Dr. Primus received his Ph.D. in economics from Iowa State University.

J. Larry Brown
Dr. Brown directs the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University. He coordinated the Medford Declaration to End Hunger in the U.S., a document endorsed by more than 3,000 leaders of organizations with a combined membership of over 100 million Americans. Formerly on the faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health, Dr. Brown served as chairman of the Physician Task Force on Hunger in America, where he led a team of nationally prominent doctors on field investigations in half of the nation's states during the 1980s. Dr. Brown is immediate past chair of Oxfam America, and he also chaired the medical task force of USA for Africa. He is the author numerous articles in both lay and scientific journals, such as Scientific American and "Encyclopedia Britannica," and several books, including "Living Hungry in America". Dr. Brown appears frequently on national television, including "Nightline," the "Today Show," and "Good Morning America."

Jane Knitzer
Dr. Jane Knitzer, a psychologist, has spent her career in policy research and analysis of issues affecting children and families, including mental health, child welfare, and early childhood. She has been on the faculty at Cornell University, New York University, and Bank Street College for Education, where she also served as the Dean of Research, Demonstration, and Policy. Previously, she worked for many years at the Children's Defense Fund. Her work focuses on broad efforts to improve outcomes for young children and families. She has directed the National Center for Children in Poverty's Map and Track reports, which provide national trend data and state-by-state information about early childhood policies, and oversees NCCP's work on vulnerable children and families. Her most recent work includes "Promoting Resilience in the Most Vulnerable Young Children and Families" and "Using Mental Health Strategies to Move the Early Childhood Agenda and Promote School Readiness." Dr. Knitzer is the recipient of the first Nicholas Hobbs Child Advocacy Award from the American Psychological Association. She is a past president of the American Orthopsychiatric Association and of Division 37: Child, Youth, and Family Services of the American Psychological Association. Currently, she serves on the New York State Permanent Committee on Justice for Children and is a board member of Family Support America (formerly the Family Resource Coalition).

Research on Head Start Effectiveness Panel

Donna M. Bryant
Dr. Bryant is a Fellow and Senior Scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Research Professor in the School of Education. She directs several studies of early intervention and prevention for children at risk for developmental disabilities, especially focusing on Head Start. These include a study of Head Start to public school transition, a study of Head Start quality, and a study of mental health interventions for teachers and parents of preschoolers with problems of aggression. She served on the National Academy of Sciences' Head Start Research Roundtable and was recently a member of the Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation. She has authored many papers on early intervention and is the co-author of two books, one on home visiting and another on early intervention. She is also leading the evaluation of Smart Start, North Carolina's initiative to enhance child care and family services.

Edward Zigler
Dr. Zigler is the Sterling Professor of Psychology, head of the psychology section of the Child Study Center, and Director of the Bush Center in Child Development and Social Policy at Yale University. He is the author, coauthor, and editor of hundreds of scholarly publications and has conducted extensive investigations on topics related to normal child development, psychopathology, and mental retardation. He is the founder of the School of the 21st Century, which has been adopted by more than 1,300 schools nationwide. In 1964, Zigler was on the original panel of experts enlisted by the White House to create the Head Start program. He continues his interest in the Head Start program, conducting research, integrating the literature on early care and education, and making recommendations for the future. He recently completed work with policy makers and the administration to revise the Head Start Program Performance Standards, establish Early Head Start for very young children and their families, and design a research agenda. Zigler's many honors include awards from the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Society for Research in Child Development, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the National Head Start Association.

W. Steven Barnett
Dr. Barnett is a Professor of Education Economics and Public Policy and Director of the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) at Rutgers University. His work includes research on early education and child care policy, the educational opportunities and experiences of young children in low-income urban areas, the long-term effects of preschool programs on children's learning and development, and benefit-cost analysis of preschool programs and their long-term effects. Dr. Barnett earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan. Recent publications include "Lives in the Balance," a benefit-cost analysis of preschool education based on a 25-year study, and "Early Care and Education for Children in Poverty," co-edited with Sarane Spence Boocock.

John W. Fantuzzo
Dr. Fantuzzo is a clinical child psychologist and the Diana Riklis Term Professor of Education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Since 1988, Dr. Fantuzzo has participated in a number of federally funded research projects that have involved extensive work with the School District of Philadelphia's early childhood education programs. He is currently collaborating with the Office of Early Childhood Education in the School District of Philadelphia, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Public Health to investigate ways to enhance the quality of assessment and intervention services for young children and their families. Dr. Fantuzzo was recently awarded a major grant to create a unified municipal individual database for children, the first of its kind in the country. In addition, Dr. Fantuzzo is studying the emergence of early childhood competencies in complex classroom and neighborhood environments. He received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Fuller Graduate School of Psychology and served as a Psychology Fellow at Harvard Medical School in 1980.