June 3, 2009Generals: Youths unfit for military
The future strength of America's military may rest with our pre-school children. And unless things change, that worries a group of senior retired military officers who foresee a generation that is incapable of defending the nation.
June 3, 2009Nationally, statistics show Head Start programs work
A national Head Start impact study by the Society for Research in Child Development for the Department of Health and Human Services found evidence of the program's benefits on low-income families. The study found nationally, Head Start reduced the achievement gap by 45 percent in pre-reading skills between Head Start children and the national average for all 3- and 4-year-olds.
June 3, 2009Editorial: Invest in early childhood ed
The City of San Antonio recently awarded new contracts for its Head Start Program, and the Texas Legislature approved $25 million for a grant program to allow school districts to expand their half-day pre-k programs to full-day if they want. The bill, however, carries a stipulation that a school district would have to use at least 20 percent of the grant funds to contract with one or more community providers.
June 3, 2009Recession May Have Lasting Impact On Kids
The current recession could be over by the year's end, but its impact on children will continue through next year and may virtually erase decades of improvements in American children's well-being, according to a new report by the Foundation for Child Development. The recession's impacts -- especially on poor and very young children -- could be profound unless policies are changed to help strengthen families in times of hardship and to acknowledge the importance of early childhood education, child advocates said Wednesday.
June 2, 2009Inclusion for preschoolers with disabilities
Until this year, Denver Public Schools would have placed Arianna with other preschool kids with disabilities in a self-contained classroom staffed by special-education teachers and therapists. This year the district tried out a pilot program to include 50 kids with disabilities in six of its preschools, and Arianna is in one of them.
June 2, 2009TV Interferes With Infants' Language Development
Television reduces verbal interaction between parents and infants, which could delay children's language development, says a U.S. study that challenges claims that certain infant-targeted DVDs actually benefit youngsters.
June 2, 2009Stop the Violence: The Preschool Problem
Some believe access to high-quality early education may be the key to helping stop the violence. The problem is those children considered to have the greatest need for preschool are the least likely to be enrolled.
June 1, 2009A Changing Student Body
A study tracking a group of children born in 2001 found that those living in poverty are less likely to have someone read to them, tell them stories or sing to them. At age 4, children in families at or above the poverty line were better able to recognize letters, numbers and shapes.
June 1, 2009Budget crunch delays preschool expansion
Governor Corzine's preschool expansion plan — a major part of the new school funding law that won constitutional approval by the state Supreme Court last week — is on hold, with no funds for new classes included in next year's recession-crunched budget.
May 29, 200953 preschools launch this fall, but state misses goal
Another 53 Iowa schools will launch preschool programs in the upcoming school year despite a 23 percent reduction in state money that was promised two years ago, education officials announced Thursday.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Hot Topics (NIEER) 6/4
CWI Creators: Recession to Wipe Out Most Family Well-Being Gains Since 1975
The data won't be available for another two or three years, but The Foundation for Child Development (FCD) has issued a special report that projects the extent of impacts of the current recession on family well-being. The report says the percentage of children in poverty is expected to peak at 21 percent in 2010. At some point next year, 27 percent of children will have at least one parent not working full-time year-round. Median annual family income will decline from $59,200 in 2007 to $55,700 in 2010. While income for female-headed households will drop, the steepest drop will be for male-headed households. The FCD predicts social and health consequences as well.
Study Says California Needs to Work on Quality, Streamlining of Pre-K
The last in the series of RAND reports from the California Preschool Study recommends the state take measures to increase the quality of programs and make sure they get delivered to the state's 4-year-olds from families with income up to 240 percent above poverty level and 3-year-olds from families below poverty level. Among the near-term steps the report recommends are developing a quality rating system, providing web-based reports accessible to parents, and modifying contract rules for government-subsidized programs that reduce the amount of available funds that go unused.
Full-Day Head Start Pays Off in Montgomery County, MD
When Maryland's Montgomery County Public Schools offered the district's Title 1 schools the opportunity to expand Head Start half-day pre-K to full-day, the idea was to improve the prospects for non-English speaking children and those affected by poverty. It worked. A research report from the district suggests the kids in full-day programs made significantly larger gains in reading skills compared with children in the half-day programs.
Pre-K to 3: How One School Builds on Pre-K Gains
Another example of leadership from Montgomery County Public Schools comes by way of a 7-minute boots-on-the-ground video from the New America Foundation. It follows education blogger Christina Satkowski on her visit to Broad Acres Elementary School where third grade classes have made a startling turn-around in reading and math. It's the result of a plan implemented by Superintendent Jerry Weast to expand high-quality pre-K and rewrite and align curricula through third grade in an effort to maintain the momentum of gains made in pre-K. He says these days, those gains at Broad Acres continue to build rather than fade.
The data won't be available for another two or three years, but The Foundation for Child Development (FCD) has issued a special report that projects the extent of impacts of the current recession on family well-being. The report says the percentage of children in poverty is expected to peak at 21 percent in 2010. At some point next year, 27 percent of children will have at least one parent not working full-time year-round. Median annual family income will decline from $59,200 in 2007 to $55,700 in 2010. While income for female-headed households will drop, the steepest drop will be for male-headed households. The FCD predicts social and health consequences as well.
Study Says California Needs to Work on Quality, Streamlining of Pre-K
The last in the series of RAND reports from the California Preschool Study recommends the state take measures to increase the quality of programs and make sure they get delivered to the state's 4-year-olds from families with income up to 240 percent above poverty level and 3-year-olds from families below poverty level. Among the near-term steps the report recommends are developing a quality rating system, providing web-based reports accessible to parents, and modifying contract rules for government-subsidized programs that reduce the amount of available funds that go unused.
Full-Day Head Start Pays Off in Montgomery County, MD
When Maryland's Montgomery County Public Schools offered the district's Title 1 schools the opportunity to expand Head Start half-day pre-K to full-day, the idea was to improve the prospects for non-English speaking children and those affected by poverty. It worked. A research report from the district suggests the kids in full-day programs made significantly larger gains in reading skills compared with children in the half-day programs.
Pre-K to 3: How One School Builds on Pre-K Gains
Another example of leadership from Montgomery County Public Schools comes by way of a 7-minute boots-on-the-ground video from the New America Foundation. It follows education blogger Christina Satkowski on her visit to Broad Acres Elementary School where third grade classes have made a startling turn-around in reading and math. It's the result of a plan implemented by Superintendent Jerry Weast to expand high-quality pre-K and rewrite and align curricula through third grade in an effort to maintain the momentum of gains made in pre-K. He says these days, those gains at Broad Acres continue to build rather than fade.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)