Early Ed Watch

Educators have long gone to battle over homework. Mostly, their debate revolves around the amount of homework schools assign to kids and whether or not they gain anything from completing it. But what if we could actually boost the effectiveness of homework without making it any longer, harder or more tedious for kids?

A new paper by Sara Mead and Kevin Carey, “Beyond Bachelor’s: The Case for Charter Colleges of Early Childhood Education,” has ignited a lively debate. Mead and Carey propose that states should create new organizations to meet the unique educational needs of professionals working with children from birth through pre-k: charter colleges of early childhood education, which would award teaching credentials based on demonstrated skills instead of on coursework leading to a bachelor’s degree.

Chronic absenteeism – when a student misses at least 10 percent of school days, on average about 18 days per school year – is a problem in many schools across the country, especially those that serve low-income students. But because schools often track only classroom attendance averages, not individual students’ attendance, it is not always clear which students are missing how many days. Unsurprisingly, this makes it difficult to identify specific students and families who need support.

The Aug. 19 issue of Science magazine featured a special section on early childhood learning, “Investing Early in Education.”  The collection of articles offered policy updates, field studies and new research.  The entire section is well worth a read, but here’s a summary of the most interesting articles in the package: