Children in New York City are healthier since the start of Pre-K for All
From Chalkbeat: “The launch of Pre-K for All led to improved health outcomes for low-income children. That’s according to researchers at New York University who analyzed Medicaid data for New York City children who were eligible to enroll in free pre-K versus those who just missed the cutoff because of their age. In a report released…
The Good News About Educational Inequality
The authors of the report mentioned in the previous post below have a piece in this week’s NYT Sunday Review. See the whole article, but here is the conclusion: “As encouraging as this new evidence is, we have a long way to go. Poor children still enter kindergarten nearly a year behind their richer peers. Even…
Are Poor Students More Prepared for Kindergarten?
“For decades, as wealthy parents invested more and more time and money on enrichment for their young children, students in poverty fell further and further behind. New research, however, suggests that the trend is changing: The children starting their first days of kindergarten may arrive better prepared than prior generations—and students in poverty will arrive…
Five Practical Lessons about Birth–3rd Partnerships: Feedback Requested
A chief benefit of blogs is the interactive dialogue they can support. With the Birth–3rd Learning Hub, I have an opportunity to test ideas with people who are deeply involved in doing Birth–3rd work. A few weeks ago I posted a number of “lessons” based on the work thus far, giving examples of each to illustrate the central…
Ambitious Vision: Principal Leadership in PreK–3rd Learning Communities
The National Association of Elementary School Principals has published an ambitious vision of the principal’s role in PreK–3rd reform. This report, Leading Pre-K-3 Learning Communities: Competencies for Effective Principal Practice, outlines six competencies that together form a comprehensive approach to leading early learning partnerships. This approach will require district support in addition to principal leadership. The full…
Relationships, Capacity, and Innovation
Innovations often evolve out of a series of what may seem to be minor developments. As a consequence, instead of waiting for disruptive products and technologies, we need to create the conditions for individuals, groups, and organizations to adapt, innovate, and improve all the time. –Thomas Hatch, Innovation at the Core. Principals pick up the…
Kindergarten-Readiness Tests Gain Ground
This Education Week article discusses new kindergarten-readiness assessments, including advances and concerns. See comments by Kyle Snow and Libby Doggett in the excerpts below. All 3,500 kindergarten teachers in Maryland are using a new readiness assessment this year that rests on teachers’ observations of children’s work and play to build a detailed picture of what they…
School Turnaround and Early Learning: New SIG Regulations
The New America Foundation’s EdCentral provides a helpful summary: New SIG Regulations Ramp up Focus on Early Education
In Case You Missed It in August …
For those of you who were perhaps enjoying the last weeks of summer and may have missed it in August, here are links to a three-part series I wrote on the experiences of two community-based preschool teachers implementing a new curriculum. Teaching a New Curriculum in East Boston (Boston K1DS at the East Boston YMCA #1) How does…
Preschool Development Grants
Welcome back from the long weekend and best wishes for the 2014-15 academic year. In case you missed it in August, the New America Foundation’s Early Education blog provides a good summary of the new Preschool Development Grants announced by the federal government.