More Ups and Downs for Governors’ Pre-Kindergarten Push
Governors who push for pre-kindergarten funding in the face of budget woes won’t always get public applause, but they certainly will get adulation from pre-kindergarten advocates. That’s what happened last week to Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, who recently told reporters the economy his hampered his ability to expand spending. But Patrick managed to propose [...]
ChiTrib front pages early ed
While heading out of Chicago Saturday I saw that the early Sunday edition (at the L.A. Times we called this the “bulldog” edition) had a big front page spread delving into scientific, political, and economic issues related to how best to invest in early childhood education. It was an excellent piece that focused on how [...]
Slow start in Denver
A Denver Post editorial last week noted that the universal pre-k program approved by the city’s voters in 2006 is only serving 695 children and has prompted a new civic effort to speed expansion. The editorial notes that one reason for the slow growth is that the programs funded by the measure are required to [...]
Local, local pre-k coverage
I bumped into Steve Barnett, the co-director of the National Institute on Early Education Research, at the Education Writers Association conference in Chicago over the weekend. As we were being jostled by a scrum of p.r. folks, I asked him what he’d thought of the coverage of NIEER’s 2007 State of Preschool yearbook. He said [...]
Tales of Two Governors Fighting for Pre-Kindergarten
It’s been interesting watching the coverage of the fight for pre-kindergarten funding emerge in two very different states, where advocates — and taxpayers — are keeping a close eye on the outcomes. An editorial in The Tuscaloosa News noted Alabama Gov. Bob Riley’s push for an additional $20 million for the Alabama’s voluntary pre-kindergarten program, [...]
Never missing a chance….
…to promote the long-term value of high-quality kindergarten, Roy Miller, the affable president of advocacy group known as The Children’s Campaign in Florida is trying to turn the video of a violent 30-minute beating of an ostracized Lakeland cheerleader into a lobbying opportunity. The video, taken by one of the attackers, briefly popped up on [...]
Kinder in der Garten
Sara Mead at Early Ed Watch posted on this before I could get to it: A German, Friedrich Fröbel, created the first kindergarten (literally children’s garden) in 1840 to honor the 100th anniversary of Gutenberg’s discovery of movable type. Oddly, though, as Mike Estrel recounted on the front page of the Wall Street Journal this [...]
To Understand Obstacles to Pre-Kindergarten Expansion, Read Responses Between the Lines
The Jackson Clarion Ledger published an editorial last week urging better funding for pre-kindergarten, noting that Mississippi is one of only 11 states without a state funded program. The responses posted at the end of the editorial made it clear how much opposition remains in the state, ranked 48th in the nation in per pupil [...]
Buy, buy, buy, buy for your baby
NY Times national writer Kate Zernike published a funny, smart review of a new book called Parenting, Inc. by Pamela Paul that examines the phenomenon of well-off parents and the multi-billion dollar industry of doo-dads, devices, and distractions that are marketed as must-haves to anxiety-ridden new parents. Pushed by a host of factors — the [...]
Better Early Start Urged From Cal State Chancellor
Charles B. Reed, who oversees 46,000 faculty and staff and 450,000 students on 23 California campuses, weighed in on the future of the littlest Californians in an op-ed piece that appeared in the San Jose Mercury News. Reed has his hands full managing young adults at the country’s largest senior system of public higher education. [...]
