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Featured Video: Rasmus Landersø Explains New Estimates of Social Mobility
Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group member Rasmus Landersø of the ROCKWOOL Foundation explains a new way to measure social mobility across generations. It’s based on how parents use expectations of future income to decide how to invest in their children. By this measure, analysis of Danish income data shows we have been overestimating social mobility. Economic outcomes are more similar for individuals and their parents than previously found.
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Notable News
Instead of panicking over test scores, let’s rethink how we measure learning and student success
This op-ed by Alison Baulos and James Heckman argues that America’s heavy reliance on standardized testing is costly, narrow and often misleading. Instead of reacting to low scores, they urge policymakers to rethink how student success is measured by focusing more on socioemotional skills, relationships and meaningful learning experiences. The authors suggest scaling back some testing and investing in better, more holistic approaches to assessment.
Read the Op-Ed
CEHD Partners with Casa Central to Support Chicago Families
CEHD has partnered with Casa Central as its community partner in Creciendo Juntos, an ambitious home visiting program that will support Chicago families. The program aims to strengthen parents’ capacity to support their child’s early learning and skill development—the foundation for success in life.
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Intergenerational Mobility may be Substantially Overstated, New Study Shows
New research that refines measures of resources and well-being passed from parents to their children shows that current estimates of intergenerational mobility may be substantially overstated.Read More
Jamaican Early Childhood Stimulation Study Shows Benefits Last Through Age 31
A group of infants and toddlers in Jamaica who received developmental stimulation—via home visits and nutritional support—continue to show benefits from this intervention as adults three decades later, according to a study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
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Featured Projects
Creciendo Juntos
Babies begin learning before birth, and the skills they develop in the earliest years form the foundation they can build on throughout their lives. To help Chicago families make the most of this window for early development, CEHD has established the Chicago Home Visiting Partnership Program. Partnering with parents to support their child’s early learning in this randomized controlled trial will benefit Chicago’s children while advancing the science on learning and skill development.
The Origins and Persistence of Inequality in Denmark
This project investigates the causes and nature of inequality and its persistence across generations. CEHD, in collaboration with researchers at the Rockwool Foundation and the University of Copenhagen, has accessed a rich array of longitudinal data on economic outcomes drawn from Denmark and the U.S. to analyze intergenerational inequality. This work is illuminating the mechanisms behind how parents’ resources and investments into their children, along with social influences, create opportunities for economic mobility.
The China REACH Project
The Rural Education and Child Health project (China REACH) is a groundbreaking early childhood randomized control trial that is addressing the lack of research on early childhood interventions in developing economies. It evaluates the joint impact of China’s Children Nutrition Improvement Project in Poverty-stricken Areas (CNNIP) and the Jamaica Parenting and Psychosocial Stimulation Curriculum.
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