“The evidence strongly indicates that high-quality preschool education leads to a better chance of life success,” Senator Edward Houck, Chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said. “A child who attends preschool is more likely to be able to read by 3rd grade and then is more likely to go on to graduate high school and attend college.”

I see the Senator has problems with causation versus correlation. The most likely reason that a high-quality preschool education correlates with a better chance of life success is that the children going to such preschools have well-educated parents.

Analysis of the U.S. Department of Education’s Early Childhood Longitudinal Study shows that “Head Start does nothing for a child’s future test scores.” (FREAKONOMICS. Copyright 2005 by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, p.170)

But we cannot be too hard on the poor Senator, his degree is in Education, so he cannot be expected to know anything about statistics, causation, and correlation.