Background
Weikart, David Powell was born on August 26, 1931 in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. Son of Hubert James and Catherine (Powell) Weikart.
educational research foundation administrator
Weikart, David Powell was born on August 26, 1931 in Youngstown, Ohio, United States. Son of Hubert James and Catherine (Powell) Weikart.
He attended public school in Youngstown, graduating from South High School in 1949. He enrolled in Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, in the fall of 1949 and graduated in 1953 with a major in psychology and a minor in zoology. In the fall of 1953 Weikart enlisted in the United States Marine Officer Training Corps and graduated as a lieutenant.
During the spring of 1956, Weikart taught English and biology at Canfield High School in Canfield, Ohio, and also attended Youngstown University, taking courses in education.
In the fall of 1956 he enrolled in a University of Michigan joint Doctor of Philosophy program in Education and Psychology sponsored by the School of Education and Department of Psychology.
One of four children, he had an older sister and two younger brothers. Throughout the college years, he worked at a Young Men’s Christian Association camp in Rochester, New York, as a counselor and program director He was honorably discharged in December 1955 after serving as a platoon commander in of Korea and Japan.
In the fall of 1957 Weikart began working part-time as a school psychologist for the Ypsilanti Public Schools in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
He began full-time work there the following year. In 1962, Weikart collaborated with a committee of elementary education leaders (including Charles Eugene Beatty) to create the Perry Preschool Project.
He and his colleagues designed this project to find the causes and cures of academic underperformance of students in Ypsilanti"s poorest neighborhoods. The committee studied the teaching methods and curriculum choices for these students and zeroed in on creating a program for threeand four-year-olds to prepare them for success in elementary school and beyond.
Perry Preschool"s program focused on each child"s intellectual maturation and supported the child"s development through a process of active learning.
The HighScope Perry Preschool Project was evaluated in a randomized controlled trial of 123 low-income children to examine the long-term effectiveness of the type of curriculum used in the Perry Preschool (now known as the HighScope Curriculum). The HighScope Preschool Study concluded that a high-quality program for young, at-risk children contributes positively to their school success and economic outcomes and decreases their teen pregnancy rate and involvement in criminal activity. The couple had four daughters, all born between 1959 and 1963.
Juggling full-time work, summer camp activities, a new family, and work on his Doctor of Philosophy, Weikart received his degree from the University of Michigan in 1966.
He died December 9, 2003, from leukemia.
(Book by Oden, Sherri, Kelly, Mario A., Ma, Zhenkui, Weika...)
(Book by Schweinhart, Lawrence J., Weikart, David P.)
(Book by Schweinhart, Lawrence J., Barnes, Helen V., Weika...)
Member, National Commission on Children, 1990-1993. 1st lieutenant United States Marine Corps, 1953-1955. Member National Association for Education of Young Children (Lifetime Achievement award 1999).
Married Phyllis Saxton, August 24, 1957. Children: Cynthia, Catherine, Jennifer, Gretchen.