When Children Grow Up Poor, the Nation Pays a Price
“Yet as is so often the case, the reality is much different from what the political rhetoric says. The United States has the weakest safety net among the Western industrialized nations, devoting far fewer resources as a percentage of gross domestic product to welfare programs than do other wealthy countries. Partly as a result, a majority of Americans will experience poverty during…
9 Building Blocks of World Class Education through a State Lens
Marc Tucker on David Driscoll’s new book about the Massachusetts experience and on 9 Building Blocks of World Class Education Systems. Fully agree that David Driscoll “is such a decent, caring human being, overflowing with that most uncommon quality: common sense as well as a vast horde of carefully considered experience.” See the 9 Building Blocks,…
Former Lawmakers Set Aside Policy Differences for Early-Childhood Initiative
Another example of the potential for bi-partisan support of early childhood programs (in line with A Purple Agenda for (Early) Education). From Education Week’s Early Years blog: “Proving that leaving Congress sometimes makes it easier to find bipartisan accord, former Democratic Rep. George Miller, of California, and former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, of Pennsylvania, have come…
Senate Democrats have a plan that would cut child poverty nearly in half
“The US is one of the only developed countries in the world without a child allowance — a government program giving every family a set amount of money per child, no strings attached. A new proposal by Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet (CO) and Sherrod Brown (OH) would change that. The American Family Act of 2017 would dramatically…
“What really stands out is our neglect of children.”
“When you compare the U.S. social welfare system with those of other wealthy countries, what really stands out now is our neglect of children. Other countries provide new parents with extensive paid leave, provide high-quality, subsidized day care for children with working parents and make pre-K available to everyone or almost everyone; we do none of…
Legislative Briefing on QRIS and P-3
My colleague Diane Schilder and I briefed Massachusetts lawmakers last Thursday on the latest research and thinking regarding QRIS and P-3 partnerships. I was pleased to see how much interest there is in improving quality and supporting community P-3 initiatives. See this short write-up of the event.
“Purple Agenda” at Preschool Matters Today
In case you had trouble accessing my recent commentary in Education Week, Preschool Matters Today has now re-published it: A Purple Agenda for (Early) Education.
Combining quality child care with preschool promotes social mobility across generations
Economist James Heckman and businessman J.B. Pritzker writing in The Hill: “The push for high-quality universal pre-K for four-year-olds, now embraced by a growing number of political and thought leaders, is strangely isolated from the movement supporting child care for working mothers. Focusing solely on four-year-old children may make for good politics, but by itself…
Why DeVos Should Embrace Early Childhood Education (Brookings)
See this strong statement with a helpful review of the evidence from the Brookings Institution. “As Betsy DeVos ascends to the role of secretary of education amidst partisan rancor, she would do well to embrace early childhood education, an issue offering an oasis of bipartisan support. Ninety percent of voters, regardless of party affiliation, endorse…
“Affordable Child Care: The Secret to a Better Economy”
Of the 24 million children under 6 in the United States today, some 12 million need day care, because both parents work or a single parent is the breadwinner. Yet most working families can’t afford good care — if they can even find it in the first place. In 2006, a federal study gave a…