In Minnesota, big push for kindergarten readiness
Lots of states in financial stress are struggling with ways to maintain pre-kindergarten programs — or any publicly funded programs at all that help parents and children get the skills they need to start school. Minnesota is one of those states with a budget deficit and big ambitions. A group known as Ready 4 K [...]
Would bonuses for pre-k teachers improve quality?
To create an educated workforce, you have to start with high-quality educators. In the field of early childhood, the issue has long been debated. High quality programs tend to be taught by teachers with four-year degrees and specific training in early childhood education. Yet teachers may be poorly trained, or not trained at all. Only [...]
Lessons in early learning from Montgomery County
At a time when budget cuts are derailing public pre-kindergarten programs and other districts are trying to figure out how to integrate early learning, the Montgomery County school system in Maryland is touting a model for success they believe can be replicated to help narrow the achievement gap. The report is available on the website [...]
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 [...]
Wait, does study mean kindergarten teachers should be paid more?
It’s well established that children who skip kindergarten typically fall behind their classmates, and much research points to the value of a high-quality pre-kindergarten experience coming first. There has been less discussion about the impact of a kindergarten teacher on the future earnings of little learners. A new study that made its way to the [...]
Shopping for Pre-K curriculums? A guide to the best, and worst.
Johns Hopkins researchers have tried to pinpoint the best early childhood programs in a new study. The report looks a bit like a Consumer Reports rating guide for those shopping for the best prekindergarten curriculum, so instead of vacuum cleaners, you can find ratings for programs like the Curiosity Corner, a program by the Success [...]
Why Finland gets early childhood education right
It’s always fascinating to hear how other countries handle the education of their littlest learners, and even better to participate in a discussion with top educators on the subject. EarlyStories had a chance to converse on BAm! Radio with Linda Darling-Hammond, the Stanford University researcher and professor, and John R. Burbank, the executive director of [...]
Is poor quality early childhood education better than none at all?
Imagine the dilema of a working parent in Georgia, dropping a child off at a child care center on the way to work. In many cases, the parent could not hold down a job without having a place to drop the child off. But what happens during the day? A study of 3,100 licensed day [...]
Nap-time: “Baby-stuff” or a necessary piece of early education?
Is nap-time for young students “baby-stuff” that takes away time from learning, or do they need it to help them achieve? On a recent Bam! Radio broadcast, Early Stories joined a discussion with Rae Pica and three experts on early childhood, who reached the unanimous conclusion that naps in preschool and kindergarten aren’t superfluous. They’re [...]
What does a good early start look like?
It’s not easy to figure out what is really going on in a pre-school classroom. It might look like children are simply sitting on the floor, playing, cooking or running around in circles, the way toddlers will sometimes do. This may be one reason why so few journalists bother to venture into early childhood classrooms. [...]
