Early Ed Watch

A new study in the November/December 2008 issue of Child Development looks at the impacts of an intervention designed to improve Head Start students' language, literacy, and social-emotional skills:

Damon Weaver, whose Joe Biden is My Homeboy video rocketed him to national fame during the presidential campaign, is a student at K. E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary, a 528 student PK-6 public elementary school in Florida's Palm Beach County School District. Despite the impressive recording studio on display in this video, this is hardly an affluent school: More than 96 percent of the school's students are economically disadvantaged. Nearly 70 percent of the student body is African American, and over 25 percent is Hispanic. Unfortunately, the school's academic performance is not very impressive. Only 45 percent of the school's fourth graders are proficient in reading--well below state averages--although 78 percent are proficient in math. The school failed to make adequate yearly progress under NCLB for the 2007 school year because its students fell short of achievement targets. It received a grade of "B" on the Florida state accountability system.

We recently took a look at the early education experts staffing the Obama-Biden transition’s agency review team for the Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that administers Head Start, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and other major federal early childhood investments.

Early Ed Watch is going to be taking off the next few days to allow us to enjoy some turkey and all the fixings with family and friends. But we'll be back next week with more early education coverage, including this New America event. In the meantime, the holiday spirit has got us thinking about some of the things we're grateful for this Thanksgiving: