We frequently hear the complaint: Our education systems – particularly public education – are broken. Invest in these approaches? That’s just throwing good money after bad.

For example, investing in Head Start may make sense. In other cases, investing in K-12 might be the right approach. But coordinate and sustain ongoing investment in both? Forget it.

Only, it turns, out: That’s not what the data show. And that’s not the conclusion of Kirabo Jackson, a Northwestern University professor, who has analyzed that data, the trends, and the outcomes.

In fact, as Jackson explains: It’s specifically the continued, ongoing investment in kids and their education that delivers exponential results. As you’ll hear, investing in Head Start plus investing in K-12 – that math is simple: 1 + 1 = 3.

A word about Prof. Jackson: He’s the Professor of Human Development and Social Policy and Faculty Fellow in the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern’s School of Education & Social Policy. An economist by training, his research has been published in articles have appeared in leading economics journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Journal, Journal of Labor Economics, The Review of Economics and Statistics, among others.

He’s turned his economic world view to the world of education, and in 2016, Education Week listed him among the top university-based scholars who are doing the most to influence educational policy and practice.