August 2019 – Professor Heckman’s recent research looks at the life outcomes of Perry Preschool participants at midlife, as well as outcomes of their children. After putting the data through a series of rigorous tests, Heckman finds that those children who participated in the Perry Preschool program had significant gains in personal and family life outcomes that provided their children with positive multi-generation effects on education, health, employment and civic life. Early childhood education resulted in stronger families and significantly contributed to upward mobility in the next generation—an indication that early childhood education can be an effective way to break the cycle of poverty. This toolkit provides background information and supporting materials related to the new research. Materials include the full academic papers (The Perry Preschoolers at Late Midlife: A Study in Design-Specific Inference and Intergenerational and Intragenerational Externalities of the Perry Preschool Project), a research summary and sample social media posts.