Why is a kindergarten kid roaming hallways?
It’s often frustrating to read stories about mix-ups involving the littlest learners, especially when it’s hard to know exactly what happened and why. Today’s New York Daily News, for example, carries a heart wrenching tale of a five-year-old boy wandering the hallways of his overcrowded elementary school in Queens after his mother fought to get [...]
A shake-up in Head Start: 25 percent of centers will have to compete for funding
Head Start — which has had a rough year — got a shake-up this week when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced proposed regulations that will force at least a quarter of Head Start grantees to compete to stay in business. The Obama administration says the new rules will improve the quality [...]
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 [...]
Early education waiting on its Superman
Over at the Quick and the Ed, Rob Manwaring is making the point that the charter school research — which shows mixed results — isn’t all that different than the research on the impact of preschool. National charter school research has, generally, found that charter schools do about the same, and often worse, than regular [...]
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 [...]
The great kindergarten debate, California style
Kindergarten students these days have a lot in common with middler schoolers. Visit any middle school and you are likely to be struck instantly by the vast differences in the size of students. There are plenty of small, still childish looking 13 and 14-year-olds who look as if they’d be more comfortable in an elementary [...]
Are we losing free play, or is it seeing a resurgence?
In a post the other day, I questioned the advice of a Dallas preschool director who was warning parents away from preschools that allow children just to play. Today, we heard from another preschool that is advocating the opposite: Free, unstructured play is key to help children learn and be better prepared for school. The [...]
California’s transitional kindergarten = the new pre-K?
California is set to introduce “transitional kindergarten,” something in between pre-K and kindergarten for four-year-olds who might otherwise enroll in kindergarten. The bill has passed the legislature and is waiting to be signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Over at Flypaper, Chester Finn, an ardent critic of universal pre-K, is lambasting the plan. He’s worried the [...]
The nursery school insanity begins anew in New York City
It might seem as if the push to get into one of New York City’s most prestigious and pricey nursery schools is an old story, but quotes like these remind readers that it’s not just the city’s übercompetitive parents who are keeping the frenzy alive: “I will interview parents all night if I need to,” Wendy [...]
Should gifted pre-schoolers be isolated, nurtured?
The little things young children do and say can be so amazing that it’s hard to imagine not thinking of all children as gifted. The very word is fraught, though, and has led to years of debate about what constitutes a gifted child. How should the quality be measured and how should the littlest learners [...]
