Ariel Kalil

Trump Wants to Gut Head Start. He's Already Begun More than 800,000 students would lose access to early childhood education if Trump's draft budget proposal is enacted.

"If Head Start disappears, working parents with few alternatives will lose child care options that enable them to earn a living," @arielkalil.bsky.social said. "Children who need extra support...will instead fall even further behind." www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

Harvard University Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders who make a difference globally.

Harvard redid its whole homepage to push back against the administration’s demands. I mean, this is just a website but I think it’s kind of a great PR move: www.harvard.edu

harris.uchicago.edu/news-events/...

I'm so proud of our relational technology that augments rather than replaces human connections.

Chat2Learn guides rich, dynamic adult-child conversations that build children's skills and curiosity. It offers rich, open-ended questions that encourage children to think big and creatively, tell stories, recall memories, form opinions, solve problems, and ask questions.

The Behavioral Insights and Parenting Lab at @harrissocial.bsky.social UChicago announces the launch of our responsive parenting tool, Chat2Learn. Thanks to tech partners MJV, partners in global research at the Development Innovation Lab and Midis Peru, and funders at JPAL-NA and UChicago Global.

Economic mobility and parents’ opportunity hoarding | PNAS Creating opportunities for people to achieve socioeconomic mobility is a widely shared societal goal. Paradoxically, however, achieving this goal c...

"Economic mobility and parents’ opportunity hoarding" by @marlisschneider.bsky.social (@nhhecon.bsky.social, @nhhnor.bsky.social & @fair-thechoicelab.bsky.social), David M. Silverman, Ivan A. Hernandez, Rebecca M. Ryan, @arielkalil.bsky.social and Mesmin Destin: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

What a wonderful, invigorating week in Potsdam and Berlin! Many thanks to @shushmargaryan.bsky.social and my other lovely, gracious hosts.

@arielkalil.bsky.social's research shows that learning is enhanced in the home- and we couldn't agree more! The Big Brains Podcast met with Ariel to dive deep into this crucial topic: alumniandfriends.uchicago.edu/s/uchicago-r...

Boosting Young Children’s Math Skill with Technology in the Home Environment; A Digital Library for Parent-Child Shared Reading Improves Literacy Skills for Young Disadvantaged Children; Priming Paren... Students with stronger reading and math skills tend to perform better in school and earn higher incomes in adulthood. It is concerning, then, that children from low-income backgrounds enter school wit...

New research from @harrissocial.bsky.social @arielkalil.bsky.social on closing the achievement gap by supporting parental engagement in learning, thru approaches ranging from digital tools to identity priming. bfi.uchicago.edu/insights/boo...

The science behind raising successful kids, with Ariel Kalil Developmental psychologist explains how parents can best invest time to close the education gap

New federal data shows American kids are falling behind in reading and test scores. @harrissocial.bsky.social's @arielkalil.bsky.social explores how parental habits can impact childhood development. Listen now on Big Brains UC: ow.ly/BVkH50VlBpj

The science behind raising successful kids, with Ariel Kalil Developmental psychologist explains how parents can best invest time to close the education gap

We're so excited and proud to hear @arielkalil.bsky.social discussing our work on this University of Chicago Big Brains Podcast episode - tune in! news.uchicago.edu/big-brains-p...

The @HarrisBIPLab and @DILatUChicago launched Chat2Learn Peru! Fantastic team and stakeholders meeting with representatives from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Development and Social Inclusion, the Ministry of Education, the World Bank, and UNICEF.

Dr. Collins noted that when he was recruited to the institutes, and through many of the years that followed, “investment in medical research was seen as a high priority and a nonpolitical bipartisan effort — saving countless lives, relieving human suffering and contributing substantially to the U.S. economy.” “N.I.H. is the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world,” he wrote. “It is the main piston of a biomedical discovery engine that is the envy of the globe. Yet it is not a household name. It should be.” He went on: “When you hear about patients surviving stage 4 cancer because of immunotherapy, that was based on N.I.H. research over many decades. When you hear about sickle-cell disease being cured because of CRISPR gene editing, that was built on many years of research supported by N.I.H.”

Francis Collins led the mapping of the human genome, and chose to do big scientific to benefit the public. He is a a former NIH Director.
He just resigned his position in government. His resignation letter:
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

Gene Hackman would be a great name for a scientist working on CRISPR

Click on the post from Steven Durlauf that I reposted.

I'm thrilled to be teaching in this @ucstonecenter.bsky.social school program in Dilijan, Armenia with @durlauf.bsky.social. Please apply!

We updated our team photo slide for some upcoming talks. How lucky I am to work with this amazing group of people at the BIP Lab at UChicago! Every day with them is a gift to tune out the noise and discuss ideas that matter. Hopefully, our efforts will one day make the world a better place.

Why Dean Karlan, chief economist of USAID, resigned on Tuesday He was hired in 2022 so the aid agency could get 'more bang for our buck' with its projects. He tried to reach out to help in the rebuilding of the agency. On Tuesday he tendered his resignation.

We're watching psychological warfare against a workforce that has been committed to furthering the lives of other people.

www.npr.org/sections/goa...

A Storm Named Trump Hits the National Parks Ahead of Busy Season The president’s unpopular cost-cutting measures resulted in thousands of rangers and scientists losing their jobs

I have level of tolerance for what's happening but hands off the National Parks!!! (www.sierraclub.org/Sierra/natio...). These are what makes America great and likely the only thing that Rs and Ds have in common! 37/63 parks are in the red states! If it was not for NP it'd be easier for me to leave

The real secret to a longer life is...cheese. Viva le Vacherin!

Dear Mr. Musk,

What we found out is that each one of us is

1. a brain
2. and an athlete
3. and a basket case
4. a princess
5. and a criminal.

Does that answer your question?

Talking about Words Boosts Preschool-Age Children’s Vocabulary: Evidence from a Parent Intervention | Becker Friedman Institute Language development is a fundamental aspect of formation, and researchers continue to explore the most effective ways to support young children in acquiring new vocabulary. Evidence indicates that pa...

Sending conversation prompts to low-income parents encourages them to discuss vocabulary with their preschoolers, boosting children's vocabulary and strengthening parents' belief in their role. New brief from @arielkalil.bsky.social @harrissocial.bsky.social & co-authors. ow.ly/9tQj50V3OS0

This goes to the thing I said last night about telling stories. "People are going to be harmed in an incredibly stupid way by this" is easily ignored. "This specific kid lost access to cancer treatment for no fucking reason" moves mountains.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s idea of efficiency is stopping research on curing cancer.

'Honestly terrifying': Yosemite National Park is in chaos The Trump administration is derailing decades of conservation efforts in California's most loved park.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my 55 years,” says Beth Pratt, a regional executive director for the National Wildlife Federation, who lives near Yosemite and is working on a book called “Yosemite Wildlife.” “Just to want to gut the Park Service? I don’t understand it.”

We've got a new paper from @biplab.bsky.social! Super excited to share promising experimental results from our new parent-child conversation tool, "Chat2Learn." Conversation prompts sent directly to parents by text significantly boost preschool-age children's vocabulary and parents' growth mindset.

Christopher Jencks, a Shaper of Views on Economic Inequality, Dies at 88 His clear prose, illuminating data and novel arguments, transformed debates around issues like public education and welfare reform.

My closest academic research partner, Susan Mayer, was one of Sandy's PhD students. I'm lucky to be an intergenerational beneficiary of some of his finest qualities: incisive writing, inextinguishable curiosity, and willingness to state contrarian views.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/b...

Christopher Jencks, a Shaper of Views on Economic Inequality, Dies at 88 His clear prose, illuminating data and novel arguments helped transform debates around issues like public education and welfare reform.

Truly one of the greats. He gave us the words and the permission to study inequality in a way that has shifted so many careers and in turn impacted so many lives.

Christopher Jencks, a Shaper of Views on Economic Inequality, Dies at 88 www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/b...

My role as her advisor is to support her to continue this meaningful research, which includes working as hard as I can as a citizen-scientist to make sure the funding agencies that support it are still there for her in the future.