School reform and preschool improvement won’t improve poor children’s cognitive performance unless we also focus on parents, Ariel Kalil said during talks at Duke on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Our prevention efforts tend to focus outside the home,“ Kalil said. “But inequality starts well before kids enter school. We need to do more to support parents as a strategy to reduce inequality.”
Kalil, a development psychologist, directs the Center for Human Potential and Public Policy at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. She is studying how to help more low-income parents develop habits such as reading to their kids that promote children’s cognitive development. She described promising results using inexpensive techniques, including reminders delivered via cellphone text message.
Her appearance was sponsored by the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy as part of the Center’s Sulzberger Distinguished Lecture Series. The talks took place at the Sanford School of Public Policy.
Photo of Ariel Kalil by Kara Bonneau