[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 26, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO PROFESSOR EDWARD ZIGLER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 26, 2003

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a 
dear friend and colleague, Dr. Edward Zigler, who has recently retired 
after over 40 years as a distinguished professor of psychology at Yale 
University. Dr. Zigler has been a tireless and effective advocate for 
children for four decades. I, and many others in this Congress, have 
counted on his impeccable knowledge of children's development, his 
wisdom about its application to the Nation's most significant issues 
facing children and families, and his unassailable honesty and 
integrity.
  Edward Zigler is a Sterling Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, Head 
of the psychology section of Yale's Child Study Center at the School of 
Medicine, and Director of Yale's Center in Child Development and Social 
Policy. He is the author, co-author, and editor of hundreds of 
scholarly publications and has conducted extensive investigations on 
topics related to normal child development, child psychopathology and 
mental retardation. He is the founder of the School of the 21st 
Century, which has been adopted by more than 1300 schools nationwide.
  Because of Dr. Zigler's expertise and his commitment to our Nation's 
children, he has been asked to assist every Administration, both 
Republican and Democratic, since the term of President Lyndon B. 
Johnson. He was one of the planners of Project Head Start during the 
Johnson Administration. From 1970 to 1972, Dr. Zigler was the first 
director of the U.S. Office of Child Development (now the 
Administration on Children, Youth, and Families) and Chief of the U.S. 
Children's Bureau. President Ford then asked him to consult on the 
resettling of Vietnamese children following the ``Baby Lift''. 
President Carter asked him to write the 15-year report on Head Start.
  In his ongoing role as an advisor on the Head Start program, he has 
worked with several Secretaries of Education, Health and Human 
Services, Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW); and Labor, including 
Secretary Bennett in the Reagan Administration and Secretary Riley in 
the Clinton Administration. Currently, he is on Secretary Tommy 
Thompson's Head Start Research Committee.
  His work extends well beyond the Federal level to his own State of 
Connecticut, where he has played an instrumental role in establishing 
high quality school readiness programs for low-income children, and the 
city of New Haven, where he enlisted the police department in child 
abuse prevention efforts. The fact that his counsel has been sought 
consistently by both parties, and by decision-makers at all levels of 
government through the years is a testament to his nonpartisan focus on 
what research indicates is best for children.
  Even a brief review of Zigler's research and writing makes it 
abundantly clear why his advice has been sought by so many for so long. 
Starting with an interest in mental retardation, Zigler's theory that 
children who experience an inordinate amount of failure would do better 
in school if they believed they had a chance to succeed, captured the 
imagination of the Planning Committee for Head Start in 1965. It was 
not long before Zigler was asked to head the agency responsible for 
Head Start. Thus began his sojourn into public policy. Since then, in 
addition to his sustained commitment to ensuring that Head Start offers 
young children living in poverty the comprehensive services they 
require to enter school ready to learn, Zigler has worked on issues 
ranging from child abuse to child care to children exposed to the 
trauma of war. He and his students have surveyed child care standards 
in the States as well as their preschool programs to raise awareness of 
the importance of quality and to guide policy makers in mandating 
better programs. He has been a pioneer in the development of effective 
family support programs. His work on child abuse and neglect has guided 
significant Federal and State legislation aimed at preventing this 
tragic social problem. During the Vietnam era, he worked relentlessly 
to assist with the resettlement of Vietnamese children. He was a member 
of the Advisory Committee on Head Start Quality and Expansion and of 
the planning committee for the Early Head Start program for families 
and children ages zero to three. Recently, Zigler completed work on a 
revision of the Head Start Program Performance Standards, and is 
currently serving as the Honorary Chair of the National Advisory Panel 
for the Head Start 2010 Project. Children always come first for Edward 
Zigler.

  If children come first to this distinguished academician, Zigler's 
students follow as a close second. He has played a more central role 
than any other developmental psychologist in creating the field of 
child development and social policy. He was the major figure behind the 
creation of the Bush Centers in Child Development and Social Policy, 
which stimulated the development of several cross-disciplinary doctoral 
and post-doctoral training programs. He was also a key player in the 
establishment of the Congressional Science Fellows programs of the 
Society for Research in Child Development, from which many in the House 
and Senate have benefited through placement in our offices of 
outstanding post-doctoral experts in child policy. All told, he has 
mentored over 70 graduate and postdoctoral students and countless 
hundreds of undergraduates who are now following in his large footsteps 
to ensure that our public policies for children and families are guided 
by the best available science.
  Dr. Zigler's many honors include awards from the American 
Psychological Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the 
Society for Research in Child Development, the American Academy of 
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy on Mental 
Retardation, the American Orthopsychiatric Association, the National 
Head Start Association, the Heinz Foundation, and Teachers College, 
Columbia University. He has also received honorary degrees from Park 
University in Missouri and McGill University in Canada.
  Throughout his career, Dr. Zigler has exemplified the socially 
responsible scientist. He is honest even when it angers the advocates; 
he is outraged when outrage is called for; and he never gives up on 
even the most stubborn problems. He is rare in his dual commitment to 
scholarly research and to public service. The Nation's children have 
benefited vastly.
  I am pleased to honor him and to express my gratitude for all he has 
done and continues to do to ensure both happy childhoods and promising 
futures for our Nation's most vulnerable citizens.

                          ____________________