Promoting Educational and Racial Equity through Cross-Sector Partnerships for Children and Families (Post #2)
The first post in this series described how the first 40 First 10 and transition to kindergarten communities are working to improve quality and alignment and address early childhood challenge #3 (i.e., local system-building). I also previewed some of the lessons this blog series will explore. In this second post, I show how First 10…
Policymakers Used to Ignore Child Care. Then Came the Pandemic.
“It explained how the care sector — defined as economic activity in the home and the market — was a crucial part of the economy but operated differently than other types of businesses. You can’t measure the productivity of a child-care center the way you would, say, a car factory, she explained. The incentives are…
Rosie Could Be a Riveter Only Because of a Care Economy. Where Is Ours?
The Way Forward: Reinventing Early Childhood Education After COVID-19
COVID-19 has exposed a fundamental truth about our systems of education, health, and social services: They are fragmented and siloed, thwarting efforts to improve the quality of learning and care for children. Nowhere is this clearer than in the schools, preschools, and community programs that serve the 44% of U.S. children under 9 identified as…
State, Regional, and Community Initiatives in Maine and Pennsylvania
Learn about how state agencies, regional support organizations, and communities collaborate to improve outcomes for children and families. Lee Anne Larsen of the Maine Department of Education joins me in this NAEYC Virtual Institute video recording. I begin with an introduction to the First 10 approach Lee Anne discusses how Maine’s state and local First…
Need for a Child Care Sector Bailout: Elizabeth Warren and Others
“One thing is clear: We can no longer afford to approach child care as an economic accessory. We must approach it as the oxygen on which every facet of our recovery will depend.” See this opinion piece from the Boston Globe by Elizabeth Warren, Bruce Mann, Joseph Kennedy III, Lauren Birchfield Kennedy, Katherine Clark, Ayanna…
In Washington, Good Grades for Universal Pre-K (NYT)
Nice article by Connor Williams. He begins: “Free public school starting at age four, or even three, is growing in many American cities. It’s gaining traction as a way to help young children learn the reading, counting and social skills that prepare them for kindergarten. It also promises to help close academic gaps between rich…
Initiative aimed at helping children get a better start in life offers real promise
A strong editorial statement on P-3 by the Lancaster County newspaper, the Lancaster LNP: “It’s devastating to think that as early as infancy, a child might be deemed to be “at-risk” — that is, at risk of failing in school, of being trapped in poverty, of even facing a diminished life expectancy. ‘The achievement gap…
Kid-Centered Political Renewal
Lancaster County’s Purple Agenda
Woohoo, Lancaster County, PA! What Friedman doesn’t say is that Lancaster County is gearing up for a comprehensive P-3 initiative. More to come about the Lancaster County approach to comprehensive P-3 in the coming months. For the connection between the kind of bi-partisan, place-based collective impact initiative Friedman describes and early childhood/P-3, see A Purple Agenda…