CEHD Director James J. Heckman Named to Illinois’ “Educational Success Committee”

CEHD Director James J. Heckman has been tapped to join Illinois Governor-elect J.B. Pritzker’s transition committee on education. The transition team was announced on November 27 at the Genevieve Melody STEM Elementary School in the West Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago.


The 35-person “Educational Success Committee” will be chaired by state Sen. Andy Manar, state Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, Chicago Public Schools CEO Dr. Janice Jackson, and Illinois Education Association President Kathi Griffin.

“Every child in this state deserves a quality education – regardless of the color of their skin, the zip code they come from, or the income of their parents,” Pritzker said. “The transition’s Educational Success Committee will confront the challenges students, parents, and teachers face head on and with fierce urgency. If we want to put Springfield back on the side of working families, we must give every student the opportunities they deserve.”

Pritzker has been a longtime supporter of Professor Heckman’s work on early childhood development and education. The Heckman Equation, a communications program designed to support dissemination of Heckman’s early childhood research, is supported by the J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation. Heckman is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor at The University of Chicago.