Schools, skills, and synapses

Paper presented as the Presidential Lecture of the Western Economics Association, Seattle Washington, June 30, 2007This paper discusses (a) the role of cognitive and noncognitive ability in shaping adult outcomes, (b) the early emergence of differentials in abilities between children of advantaged families and children of disadvantaged families, (c) the role of families in creating these abilities, (d) adverse trends in American families, and (e) the effectiveness of early interventions in offsetting these trends. Practical issues in the design and implementation of early childhood programs are discussed.Committee for Economic DevelopmentJB & MK Pritzker Family FoundationSusan Thompson Buffet FoundationNational Institutes of Health (NIH)National Science FoundationAmerican Bar Foundatio