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…
Eye on Early Education’s Take on First 10 Study
For a helpful introduction to the First 10 study, see Eye on Early Education’s review, Addressing the Gaps in Children’s First 10 Years. Eye on Early Education is the blog of Massachusetts’ early childhood advocacy organization, Strategies for Children. With its Massachusetts audience in mind, this post highlights examples of First 10 work in Boston, Cambridge, and Lowell. The…
Cleaner Classrooms and Rising Scores: With Tighter Oversight, Head Start Shows Gains (NYT)
“Head Start, the country’s biggest preschool program, is getting better.” More than a decade after Congress imposed new standards on Head Start, a third of its partners have been forced to compete for funding that was once virtually automatic, and the share of classrooms ranked good or excellent has risen more than fourfold. With a…
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.
A Purple Agenda for (Early) Education
Early-childhood education is ripe for bipartisan support in #edpolicy, writes @jacobsondl. #backpage #earlyedhttps://t.co/5mTM8D1bhG — Education Week Opinion (@EdWeekOpinion) May 10, 2017 I’m pleased to share my commentary in today’s Education Week, “A Purple Agenda for (Early) Education (print edition title).” It begins: “Education policy has become as polarized as the rest of American politics. In the…
Principles of Effective P-3 Partnerships: Improved Family Engagement Language
I have strengthened the language around family engagement and support in the principles for effective P-3 partnerships and the associated theory of action graphic. You will see that I drew on a consolidated version of the renowned Head Start family and community engagement outcomes, which I think are right on-point and fit well within the context of…
A Lesson For Preschools: When It’s Done Right, The Benefits Last (NPR)
From a recent NPR article: “Is preschool worth it? Policymakers, parents, researchers and us, at NPR Ed, have spent a lot of time thinking about this question. We know that most pre-kindergarten programs do a good job of improving ‘ specific skills like phonics and counting, as well as broader social and emotional behaviors, by…
“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…
Atlantic Monthly: Boston’s Preschools a Model for Later Grades
After a relentless focus on quality in the early years, the city is even bringing lessons learned to later grades … Changing all of early elementary school in a methodical and purposeful way to better resemble the student-centered structure of preschool would be a much bigger win than just proving that preschool helps students do…
K-3 Quality Matters Too, Says New Policy Report
As important as preschool is, the quality of the early elementary years is also critical and shouldn’t be ignored, says a new report by the Education Commission of the States, a education policy think tank. From Education Week’s Early Years blog: http://goo.gl/KsEDts