Problem-Based Case #1
Brain-Based Education
You are in a new job, as a program officer for education programs at the California Wellnext Foundation. The foundation was started by six progressively-minded high-technology entrepreneurs based in Silicon Valley, with the broad mission of providing grants to "research-based programs that promote the well-being of children, youths and families in California". An important part of the mission is the emphasis on building a "research-based" portfolio. The founders strongly felt that most social and educational programs promoted by other comparable foundations such as the Packard Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation in California, as well as the Rockefeller Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York at the national level, are not really founded on research. As entrepreneurs who identify as being part of the new knowledge economy, the founders felt that it is important to support programs that "send a clear signal about its connection with rigorous research". At the same time, the founders are well aware of the need to be bold and synthetic in addressing social problems that cannot wait for all the evidence to be in.
One of the first inquiries you receive comes from the "I Am Your Child Foundation", a request for $150,000 to establish a Northern California office. The letter is a simple one that asks for staff support for a professional and a clerical assistant to jump-start an office, strategically located in San Mateo County. The letter refers to its website, which states:
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I Am Your Child is a national public awareness and engagement campaign to make early childhood development a top priority for our nation. Since its spring launch in 1997, I Am Your Child has educated millions of parents and professionals about breakthrough new discoveries in the process of brain development. These findings reveal that the first three years of a child's life are more important for emotional and intellectual growth than previously thought. Through mass media, community mobilization, public education and policy outreach, parents and caregivers across the U.S. and around the world are learning how to make a difference in the lives of young children. I Am Your Child founders include Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, and Ellen Gilbert of International Creative Management, as well as a broad range of experts from the early childhood fields. The goals of the Campaign are: * Raise public awareness and promote citizen engagement regarding the importance of the first three years of life. * Provide families with young children the information and resources they need to promote healthy development and school readiness. * Unite and expand the work being done on the national, state and local levels to provide comprehensive, integrated early childhood development programs that include health care, quality child care, parent education, and intervention programs for families at risk. * Increase the public will to make quality resources and services more widely available to families with young children. |
The url for the foundation is at:
You bring this to the attention of your boss, who is intrigued because of the prominence of its founder, Rob Reiner. Plus, the statement about neurological research clearly fits with the mission of the Wellnext Foundation. You quickly discover that there has been enormous media coverage about early brain development and its implications for education, but also learn that there is controversy over its applications to education. The following source materials come to your attention:
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Some resource materials: Education Week (April 8, 1998). Education Policymakers Embrace Brain Findings (by Linda Jacobson). The Decade of the Brain, a joint initiative of the National Institutes of Mental Health and the Library of Congress. White House Conference on Early Childhood Development and Learning: What New Research on the Brain Tells Us About Our Youngest Children (April 17, 1997). Note: this is not the actual conference proceedings but a report written based on it, published by the Dept. of Education. Starting Points. Report of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1994. Bruer, J. In Search of Brain-Based Education. Kappan, 1999. Bruer, J. The Myth of the First Three Years, Chapter One. This gives a good flavor of the innards of the controversy. |
This now does not seem as straightforward as it first appeared. You discuss this with your boss, who suggests that perhaps the best thing would be to organize a panel discussion on this topic for the foundation Board. The panel should address what the status of knowledge is about brain development and its implications for early childhood development. You have a budget to support participation by four to five panelists plus a moderator.
Your task is as follows:
(1) You should prepare a proposed lineup of panelists and a moderator, stating their qualifications and what they would bring to the discussion.
(2) Prepare a background briefing memo clearly describing the issues raised
by brain-based education, why there are different opinions on the status of
the knowledge base, and why it is an issue that the Board should be aware of,
regardless of whether it funds specific proposals in this area or not. The memo
should be no longer than ten double-spaced pages.
This case was prepared by Kenji Hakuta 3/01.