References on
Early Childhood (Baby Ed) Programs

• "Caveat Emptor:  The Head Start Scam" by John Hood, Cato Institute. This article and the next one discuss the lack of effectiveness of Head Start despite 35 years and about $44 billion.
  
• "It's Time to Stop Head Start," by Darcy Olson, Cato Institute
  
• "Head Start in Tulsa Mandates Genital Exams" - Education Reporter. More evidence that government intervention decreases freedom and parental control.
  
• "Universal Child Day Care: The Latest Threat to the Family" by Robin DeJarnette, Family Research Council. An excellent discussion of the attempt to impose a national model of government-run childcare on a state-by-state basis, the problems with public-private partnerships, and the imposition of a politically correct curriculum on children and childcare workers.
  
• "The Tyranny of the Urgent: Where Do Children Fit on our Priority List?" – Karen R. Effrem, M.D., Center of the American Experiment. This policy research paper includes a long section on childcare’s developmental and infectious disease problems as well as what has happened in socialist countries like Sweden where large center childcare is almost universal.
  
• "Congressional testimony regarding education and health programs and school-based health clinics" – Karen R. Effrem, M.D.  This testimony discusses how health, education, and social services are being combined via school-based clinics in the radical restructuring of our society brought about by Goals 2000, School-to-Work, and the Workforce Investment Act.
  
• The Myth of the First Three Years by John Bruer, The Free Press division of Simon and Schuster, New York, 1999.  This excellent book debunks the current hype over brain research that is hijacked by childcare advocates to suggest that universal childcare and preschool would be good for children’s brains.

The following documents are from sources intent on selling the Baby Ed programs.  Use caution when digesting these documents, as they often use double-speak and misleading language.  A careful reading will show that they confirm the wide scope of centralized control intended by these programs.

• Early Childhood Indicators – Minnesota Dept. of Children, Families, and Learning (DCFL), in pdf format.  This document contains the statewide standards for early childhood, similar to the Profile of Learning. It discusses performance-based assessments (Goals 2000 and the Profile of Learning), career awareness and community service for preschoolers (School to Work), gives more responsibility to teachers and daycare workers than to parents, and references a very politically infused curriculum.
  
• NAEYC's Anti Bias Curriculum  This curriculum is part of this national organization’s accreditation process and is referenced in the DCFL’s Early Childhood Indicators document. It discusses sexual identity, homophobia, (revisionist) history, and how to involve young children in political activism. Order info