Pipeline to Harvard a Myth!?
My call for stories in which sources claim that getting into the “right” pre-school or kindergarten is an express ride directly to 1. The Ivy League. 2. Science Careers 3. To Become Doctors. prompted Hechinger Institute Assistant Director Liz Willen to send me a story she did last spring for Bloomberg News. The story had [...]
You Mean the John Birch Society Still Exists?
Who knew? I thought those flatearther, conspiracy theorists went out of the scaremongering business in the 1970s. But no. The report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce got the JBS all riled up because it didn’t call for enough privatization and also asserted a societal interest in education. Here’s what [...]
Wow (and Thoughts on Assessment)
I mentioned a few days ago the new blog from Sophia, a New Jersey pre-kindergarten teacher, who describes what goes on in her classroom. As a journalist, I find her entries to be quite enlightening, giving me a sense of what to notice in classrooms and what to ask pre-k teachers about. One example: in [...]
“Transdisciplinary,” “Bilingual” Scholars by the 5th Grade
The Washington Post had a frontpager Sunday about the rapid spread of the elementary school version of the International Baccalaureate program. I really like how the story takes the reader inside this program and these classrooms and gives one a very clear sense of the instruction and expectations. Here’s an excerpt: The program seeks to [...]
A Progress Report on Pre-K
The Pew Charitable Trusts, which since 2001 has invested more than $50 million in its “Advancing Quality Pre-K For All” initiative, has put out a five-year status report on its progress. (Full disclosure: the Hechinger Institute, which I direct, has received two grants from the Pew Trusts to raise journalists’ awareness and knowledge of pre-kindergarten [...]
Up-to-date Participation Data and Trends
Latest federal data on participation of three-to-five-year-olds in child-care or pre-school or Head Start is available here. Data shows that the percentage of that age group enrolled in centers increased from 53 percent in 1991 to 60 percent in 1999, before decreasing to 57 percent in 2005. Despite the increase in state spending on pre-kindergarten, [...]
What is Readiness?
The term “readiness” for kindergarten is one that makes me sort of itchy and uncomfortable. I started feeling that way when I read this otherwise innocuous column in a little paper out in Oregon. The column reports that one in five Oregon five-year-olds are “not ready” for kindergarten and that the state ranks 40 out [...]
Blackberry Orphans
I was traveling last week so didn’t catch up with the terrific Wall Street Journal (as in funny, terrifying, depressing) story about what they called “BlackBerry Orphans,” kids who are neglected as their parents compulsively check email on the devices. The story tells the story of kids trying to put limits on their parents’ usage, [...]
Story Idea, Free for the Taking
Remember the three-part series on kindergarten the San Antonio Express-News did a few weeks back? I can envision a similar, and similarly provocative, series that could be done on pre-kindergarten. Given that expanding Pre-K seems to be very much at the top of the agenda for many policy makers, and given the expansion that’s already [...]
More Pre-School, Less High School
The new report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Work Force is nothing if not bold. It paints a grim scenario of a drastically reduced standard of living for many Americans if the nation doesn’t get better at building a skilled workforce. Essentially, the report says the U.S. needs to move [...]
