Raising Futures: Narrowing the Skill Gap between Advantaged and Disadvantaged Children

LIEPP's Educational Policies research group and the Laboratory for the Psychology of Child Development and Education are pleased to convene the seminar:

Raising Futures: Narrowing the Skill Gap between Advantaged and Disadvantaged Children

September 11th. 4pm-6pm. (Paris time)

Location: Sciences Po, Room K008, 1 place Saint Thomas d'Aquin, 75007, Paris. 

Speaker:

Ariel Kalil, the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy 

Abstract:

The gap in skill development between advantaged and disadvantaged children is large in the United States and has hardly narrowed over the last generation. Policies in the United States have not reduced this gap by much. Perhaps the only viable, sustainable, and cost-effective solution to narrowing the skill gap is to engage parents in the process. By far most learning takes place outside of schools and in environments selected and controlled by parents. This talk documents the ways in which parent engagement in child learning differs between advantaged and disadvantaged parents and how these differences affect child skills. It focuses on theories from cognitive science that try to account for gaps in the standard economic model. It also describes our recent research using behavioral tools and technology showing how these tools can help disadvantaged parents overcome cognitive barriers that prevent them from engaging in their children’s learning.

A seminar organised by Laudine Carbuccia (CRIS / LIEPP).