New rules, role for Head Start lauded with release of new research
EarlyStories examined some suggested new rules for Head Start recently, and now a leading expert on early childhood is lauding the Obama administration in a Washington Post op-ed for proposing a new system he says could force much-needed improvements to the $8 billion program for 3- and 4-year-olds. The op-ed makes it clear that what [...]
Preschool depression and poverty
The New York Times Magazine has a story about depression among preschoolers this week, which asks whether depression can be diagnosable among young children, and, if so, where it might come from. The article suggests that maternal depression can play a role, but is not definitive. The author writes: “Despite the assumption that these kids [...]
IQ less important than grit
Jonah Lehrer, writing in Wired, makes an interesting point about the oft-cited High Scope Perry Preschool project, an experiment in Michigan that found short-term gains for poor African-American children enrolled in a high quality preschool program. Skeptics often note that the gains in IQ for students who participated in the high quality Perry Preschool slipped [...]
A report that’s bad timing for Head Start
Congressional testimony on Tuesday revealed some alarming evidence of fraud at federally funded Head Start centers, at a time when some concerns and questions are being asked about a program established some 45 years ago by President Lyndon Johnson. Prompted by anonymous tips to a fraud hotline, investigators with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found [...]
Resources for following reauthorization and its impact on early ed
At a time when early childhood advocates have experienced a few setbacks, all hopes are on reauthorization of what was once No Child Left Behind – and is now more commonly referred to as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) for a variety of reasons. There has yet to be a clear outline of [...]
Full-day Head Start pre-k gets results in Maryland, study shows
What happens when students get a chance to attend a full-day of a Head Start prekindergarten program instead of a half day? They are more likely to become better readers and to need less in the way of special education services once they get to kindergarten, according to a study released by Montgomery County Public [...]
Education Week looks at Obama’s early ed agenda
There was great energy and excitement about a year ago when President Barack Obama appeared poised to make early-childhood education one of his top priorities. A lot has changed, however, and Education Week takes a look at what happened in a collaboration with the Hechinger Report. “The excitement has cooled a bit,” Education Week wrote. [...]
Wither Obama’s early childhood agenda?
While celebrations continue over last night’s historic passage of President Barack Obama’s health-care bill, there are plenty of early childhood experts and advocates who are disappointed. The president’s promise of an expanded — and expansive — early childhood agenda got caught up in the complexities of health care reform and in the overhaul of student [...]
Asking the right questions about early childhood priorities
At a time when all eyes in Washington are focused on health care reform and the Obama administration has proposed revamping the No Child Left Behind law, it’s the right time to wonder what will happen to the president’s promising early childhood agenda. There has been very little press coverage on what a re-write of [...]
