Cost Benefit Analysis of a Childhood Program - Assignment Example

Age 21 Cost-Benefit Analysis of the I Chicago Child-Parent Centers The article is about the Cost Benefit Analysis of an early childhood program which is federally administered. CBA is the systematic process of calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project. It gives an insight into a particular project to check its benefits and servings to the society. It highlights whether the project is fulfilling its objectives or not and if the investment made was a sound investment or not. Cost Benefit Analysis also provides a basis for the comparison of projects. It involves the element of comparing the total expected costs against the total expected benefits. To be precise it looks for one fact only; whether the project is a gain project or loss project. The literature background for such study was that previous researches showed that programs designed for early childhood involvements effected child’s health and well-being beneficially. Good quality of involvements was directly related with improved health status, rational skills, accomplishment motivation and keenness at school. This study is the further extension of such results to check whether such programs do influence children positively or not. For the CBA the research was carried out in Chicago Child- Parent Centers located in Public schools. These centers are believed to provide educational and family support services to low -income children between the ages of 3 to 9. The data collected was from 1,539 programs and a comparison group of children selected who were born in 1980. These children were the participants of Chicago Longitudinal Study. The measures of program participation were considerably but not only associated with higher school achievement and with higher school completion and also with lower rates of remedial education services, juvenile delinquency which is popularly known as youth crime and children maltreatment which means treating children abusively. The economic analyses showed that the economic benefits of the pre- school participation and School- going participation exceeded the costs. This indicated that a public program established for such things proves to be beneficial. If the article is critically analyzed, one would find strengths and challenges within it. The strengths would show the strong points in the argument of the article and the flaws within the argument. The strengths of the article can be analyzed in the following way: I. The first recognizable strength of the article is that it gives CBA of such programs which promise to play a positive role in a child’s health and well -being. Different benefits of these programs are listed in such an order that they give a comprehensive insight into the benefits of early childhood programs. The program benefits are termed as ‘reductions in expenditures for remedial services’, ‘increase in lifetime earnings, compensation, and government tax revenues’, ‘reduction in expenditures in the criminal justice system for youth and adult program, ‘reduction in tangible expenditures to crime victims of youth and adults and ‘reduction in expenditures for the child welfare system and the victimization form the child abuse and neglect’. The analysis is a comprehensive analysis of such programs, with the help of research methods and data collection; the benefits stated add an objective element to it. The literature part and the analysis part seem to go hand in hand because of the mutual argument. The analysis part is basic strength of the article because of the systematic listing of the benefits. The findings add to the knowledge about the welfares of early childhood programs for low- income children. II. Secondly the research itself lies down as the literature review for the future analysis and researches. The results stated prove to be the background for the researches to be carried out in the same field. Results are brought out in such dimension that they promise to be valid and reliable; thus fulfilling the quality of generalizability. The analysis is quantitative analysis of the data. Theresults brought out through the quantitative analysis of the data prove to be generalizable for future research and on other populations. Apart from the strengths of the article, some weaknesses can also be detected. The weaknesses highlight the flaws within the research and within the argument. The two most prominent weaknesses of the article can be analyzed in the following way; I. The first challenge of the study is that such findings can only be interpreted in limited situations. The estimation was based on the project rather than on measured effects. It indicates that the estimation about benefits can change or alter during the life of the adult. The findings can only be interpreted for a particular situation. Any incident or a different dimension in the life of the adult can change the positive effect of such programs. The social and economic conditions are difficult to forecast with assurance. This uncertainty of the social and economic conditions can prove to be difficult in the prediction thus indicating that the findings could affect the assumptions made. II. The second weakness of the article is that the outcomes of the program were not measured. Though the analysis was quantitative analysis, still it lacked the element of not measuring the outcomes. No attempts were made to measure the economic benefits. Thus the article holds the capacity for both, the strengths and weaknesses. If the above weaknesses were not left unattended, then the article would not hold any flaw. Policy implications if analyzed carefully qualify to be the subject of agreeing with it or not. The policy implication talks about the policy that early childhood care proves to be beneficial for the child’s well- being and health. It talks highly about the positive aspects about the programs that offer promises about the child’s good upbringing in such spaces. The policy implication promotes the policy of such programs for the parents to get their children into pre- school programs for the child’s intellectual, cognitive and readiness development. This policy seems agreeable. This fact cannot be neglected that these programs play a vital and progressive role in the upbringing of the children. The policy promises that it will not provide any loss but benefits. Thus, to conclude it can be said that the article highlight few strengths and weaknesses while the policy implication stated at the end seems agreeable and beneficial. References Reynolds, Arthur J., et al. "Age 21 cost-benefit analysis of the Title I Chicago child-parent centers." Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis 24.4 (2002): 267-303. Read More