The not-so surprising, but disturbing results of a survey reported by the Detroit Free Press quantified an argument that advocates for pre-kindergarten often use: Turns out many kindergarten teachers in the state of Michigan are finding that the littlest learners aren’t ready for school.
In some ways, it’s hard to imagine not being ready for kindergarten — after all, isn’t kindergarten a time for lots of play and socialization? Just how challenging is it to be ready for ring around the rosy and block building? But wait — kindergarten these days, it turns out, is much more academic and teachers want their students to already know letters and numbers.
The Free Press based its story on a survey released by the Early Childhood Investment Corporation, which found that only 65% of children entering kindergarten classrooms were ready to learn the curriculum. The survey comes at a time when Michigan, like many states, is under enormous economic pressure and is bracing for major cuts to pre-kindergarten programs.
It’s important to report the results of such surveys, but even more important for journalists to get into kindergarten classrooms and speak to teachers and observe children. What kind of advantage do those who have attended pre-kindergarten have? Can they catch up? What concerns do teachers have and are they about behavior, academics or both? What is the curriculum that these students aren’t ready for? What does it ask children to do and how can they get ready?
As the budget battles and political fights over pre-kindergarten continue in economically depressed states like Michigan and elsewhere, it’s more important than ever for journalists to get inside the classroom, observe and ask deeper questions so the public gains an understanding of why early education matters.
Hechinger blogs
Completion rises as enrollment dips
California may add classes, raise feesColleges and universities awarded 5.1 percent more degrees in 2011-12, despite a 1.6 percent dip in enrollment, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Community colleges lost 250,000 students, but granted 8 percent more associate degrees. The number of bachelor’s degrees rose by 4.3 percent.
Colleges accelerate and ‘stack’ job trainingCalifornia community colleges could add courses in short summer and winter sessions — if students pay more, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. A bill that passed the Assembly this week would let colleges charge non-resident rates — $200 per unit — for new classes instead of the usual fee of $46 per unit. Students who pay more [...]
The promise of iPads for special edWith the help of Labor Department grants, community colleges are accelerating job training programs aimed at adults and “stacking” workforce credentials, reports Inside Higher Ed. Working with employers, Massachusetts’ 15 community colleges have accelerated training for jobs in health care, advanced manufacturing, information technology, biotechnology, green energy and financial services. In addition to prior-learning assessment and [...]
How will NYC students fare on the new exams?A music lesson in Virani’s classroom When Neil Virani walked into his middle school special education classroom at Mulholland Middle School, part of the LA Unified School district, three years ago, he encountered a roomful of students with a range of cognitive, emotional and physical challenges. But the most toxic problem they had to combat [...]
It’s the learning, stupidLast month, the state of New York administered English Language Arts and mathematics assessments to students in grades 3-8. For the first time, the assessments were aligned with the Common Core State Standards, a set of standards for what students should know at each grade level in these subjects that 45 states across the country [...]
The community college Completion Agenda aims to double the number of students who complete a one-year certificate or an associate degree or who transfer to complete a credential, writes Terry O’Banion in Community College Times. College leaders have focused on orientation, advising, placement, financial aid — everything but teaching and learning. Key leaders involved in the Completion [...]
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How will NYC students fare on the new exams?
The promise of iPads for special edLast month, the state of New York administered English Language Arts and mathematics assessments to students in grades 3-8. For the first time, the assessments were aligned with the Common Core State Standards, a set of standards for what students should know at each grade level in these subjects that 45 states across the country [...]
Aspiring teachers learn from their avatarsA music lesson in Virani’s classroom When Neil Virani walked into his middle school special education classroom at Mulholland Middle School, part of the LA Unified School district, three years ago, he encountered a roomful of students with a range of cognitive, emotional and physical challenges. But the most toxic problem they had to combat [...]
Teacher training programs grapple with recruitment
Lisa Dieker went around the room asking her middle-school students what they did over the weekend. CJ went to see the movie “Here Comes the Boom” with her boyfriend. Ed played in a basketball game and Kevin posted new dance videos to YouTube. “Did you work on any art projects?” Dieker asked Maria, a girl [...]
Florida plans increased scrutiny for education schools
Somewhere midway through his sophomore year of college at Florida Atlantic University, Christopher Clevenger started to question his aeronautical engineering major. He liked the coursework, and was doing well at it, but when he thought about his job prospects, the future seemed bleak. “It would be me, a computer screen and a phone,” he said. [...]
Alternative routes to teaching become more popular despite lack of evidence
ORLANDO―Lee-Anne Spalding’s Elementary School Social Studies class at the University of Central Florida (UCF) had spread out over the room in small groups. One group of sophomore college students huddled over a set of poetry books, picking out ones they liked. Others gathered around the white board as Spalding demonstrated how to they could embed [...]
INGLEWOOD, Calif.—In the back of a tenth-grade geometry classroom on a recent morning at Washington Preparatory High School, nine miles southeast of Los Angeles, Landon Yurica and Alycia Jones bent over the papers in front of them. At 23 and 24, respectively, the two could almost blend in as students as they tried the assignment [...]
