Early Childhood Education

New research from Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development challenges conventional thinking about the benefits of state-sponsored pre-K instruction, even as experts note that its findings call for more nuanced discussion. Read More

High-quality preschool is an effective way to reduce social problems associated with poverty because it teaches children the psychological skills they need to succeed as adults, according to a Vanderbilt professor who studies the economics of human development. Read More

Jesse Neugebauer, who graduates from Vanderbilt May 10 with Peabody College’s top undergraduate honor, the Founder’s Medal, knows what it’s like to overcome tough circumstances. His experience will serve him well as he prepares to work with students facing challenges of their own. Read More

Young children—even toddlers—are spending more and more time with digital technology. What will it mean for their development? Georgene Troseth, associate professor of psychology, has studied how toddlers interact with screens and is quoted. Read More

While critics of expanded preschool argue that their cognitive effects fade out after the first few years of schooling, they ignore a body of longer-term evidence that indicates impoverished students who experience a high-quality preschool program are less likely to repeat grades, to spend time in special education, to become teen parents or to get arrested, writes Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development. Read More