In addition to reforming the nation’s health-care system, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed in March, came close to being a major education bill. Funding for an early education program for children under 5, which would have made explicit the connection between education and health, hitched a ride with the health-care reconciliation package until negotiators dropped it at the last minute. Even without that provision, the health bill holds great promise as a means to dramatically improve early literacy and other educational outcomes, albeit indirectly. Educators and health providers agree that well-fed, healthy children learn better. While experts will continue to debate the exact ways adequate nutrition and health care can lead to better educational outcomes, widespread acceptance that health affects learning helped justify many early nutrition and insurance programs for poor children and pregnant women, from the Women, Infants and Children feeding program through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP). Read more…