Money In, Money Out: Covering A New Pre-K Landscape
Education journalist Emily Alpert of the Voice of San Diego expertly questioned the elements of a new and changing landscape for early childhood funding in a story this week, aimed at helping the public wade through some confusing new developments. It’s a story that differs from state to state, but is well worth pursuing. Alpert [...]
What Happens Inside a Pre-K Class? A Rare Glimpse
EarlyStories keeps a close watch on the way journalists cover — or ignore — early childhood issues. The majority of stories we see tend to focus on funding battles, so it comes as a nice surprise when we come across stories that take us into classrooms. It’s especially critical at a time when federal stimulus [...]
How Effective is Pre-K? A Study Worth Reading
In states like Tennessee where battles over pre-kindergarten expansion are fraught with political and financial tension, journalists tend to get caught up in the daily back and forth without examining the long-term implications. That’s why it will be important to follow a new five-year, $6 million scientific study that will examine the effectiveness of Tennessee’s [...]
From A Frenzy To A Trickle: Suburbs Looking For Toddlers
While New York City parents fume and fuss to find room for their toddlers in either publicly funded or private pre-kindergarten programs, suburban areas outside of the city are actually wondering where all the little ones have gone. A weekend piece in the New York Times found preschool administrators used to long waiting lists are [...]
Tokyo Early School Admissions Insanity Rivals NYC
Stories about the insanity of finding the right nursery school spots in New York City have become more than legend; now they are the stuff of movies: Nursery University, a movie about the frenzied nursery school application process in Manhattan, is out in movie theaters this week. But from the Christian Science Monitor comes yet [...]
Pre-School vs. Parents: A Predictable Argument Emerges
It did not take EarlyStories long to predict the reaction to an opinion piece in The Star Press of Indiana, which described how the economically depressed state — one of 12 that doesn’t offer publicly funded pre-kindergarten — is lagging in student achievement. “It’s obvious public schools need help when less than half of East [...]
The Lives of Children in a Downturn: What Stories Can Be Told?
The downturn economy is taking a toll on grown-ups, with a confluence of stressful events: rising unemployment, a housing crisis, income cuts and an overall sense of fear that is permeating everyday life. But how are children faring? EarlyStories was reminded why journalists should be paying closer attention, after reading Bob Herbert’s column in the [...]
Obama: Here’s why Business Leaders Support Pre-K
President Barack Obama, who has been pushing a major investment in early childhood education, provides some more details in an interview with Fortune Magazine about why corporate leaders — who have been something of a target in the sinking economy — will advocate for investing in education. “We cannot ignore the fact that our education [...]
So Is it Babysitting? More About the Florida Pre-K Story
EarlyStories was hoping Florida journalists might pick up on this week’s NIEER 2007 report card, which found that Florida’s voluntary pre-k program is among the poorest quality in the U.S. The state earned high marks for access, as it is open to every 4-year-old, regardless of income. News about the program is hugely important in [...]
