Advice on nursery schools? It will cost you!
More from the city where parenting toddlers can be a competitive sport…. EarlyStories has often pointed out the hysteria and hype around getting into a private nursery school in New York City, a topic that has been well documented. It was still hard not to be struck by the number of forums that are advertising [...]
More school time, less jail?
On the same day a Brooklyn playground removed equipment marked “jail,” elected officials in the Washington D.C. area noted that they could save a lot of taxpayer money spent on corrections if they directed it toward education — particularly for early childhood. “There is significant research showing that investing in quality early education programs helps [...]
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 [...]
How public pre-k could boost Mississippi
As the only state in the south without a state-supported pre-kindergarten program, Mississippi’s children start behind and often stay there, according to a new report by the Southern Education Foundation. Some staggering figures in the report: Some 22 percent of the state’s adults have no high school diploma, and Mississippi spends more than $2 billion [...]
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 [...]
State with no public-pre-k ponders its value
Public pre-kindergarten has never been an option in South Dakota, so parents in this rural state who have grown up without it are not surprisingly somewhat conflicted when it comes to sending their own kids to pre-school — especially since they will have to pay out of pocket. That’s why EarlyStories was fascinated to read [...]
Passionate Republican support for Early Learning Challenge Fund
With a big week looming in health care reform, many questions remain about the fate of President Barack Obama’s early learning initiatives. Susan B. Neuman, a former assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education in former President George W. Bush’s administration, acknowledges in a piece for Roll Call that while her affiliation with the Repulican [...]
A telling story of early intervention in Oregon
Consider the way Betsy Hammond of The Oregonian told the story of how one state is attempting to help young children with developmental delays. Hammond visited a center that operates seven preschool classes for students and described how teachers encourage a 3-year-old named Luca to use his words: They place items he loves both out [...]
So just how is Nevada training pre-k teachers?
Teacher preparation is high on the list of top qualities for pre-kindergarten teachers, so it was interesting to see a story highlighting one state’s efforts to improve its teaching force. Turns out Nevada developed licensing requirements for teaching students from birth through kindergarten in 2005. The spotlight on Nevada comes at a time when pre-k [...]
Ready for Recess? Raise your hand!
How often have you heard children answer “recess,” when asked the following question: What is the best part of your day at school? Who can blame them? EarlyStories wouldn’t mind running and jumping around outdoors in the middle of the day if given the opportunity. What’s interesting about the concept of recess, however, is the [...]
