Early Childhood Development: A Systems Analysis

• In Event: 66.077 - Systems Thinking in Individual-, School-, and District-Level Change, Innovation, and Policy

Abstract

This paper presents a computer simulation model of the early childhood development factors that explain the differential readiness for school of children from different family backgrounds. It looks at a complex array of variables whose interactive effects flow in significant measure from parental education and income. The final paper will include descriptions of policy-oriented experiments on the model—including, for example, changes in structure and parameters—and their results. The work is essentially theoretical in nature; however, unlike theory presented only in textual form, computer simulation modeling supports the mathematical modeling of the theory, which facilitates the kind of experimentation described—complete with output tables and graphs.

Author

• Alan K. Gaynor, Boston University