Early Ed Watch

A Blog from New America's Early Education Initiative

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At National Journal: Assessment Lessons from Early Childhood

  • By
  • Laura Bornfreund
May 3, 2013

This week, the National Journal’s expert blog asked writers to respond to a series of questions about assessment. I zoomed in on several lessons from early childhood assessments, PreK-3rd grade, that educators can and should integrate into 3rd – 12th grade standardized assessment practices.

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iPads in the Classroom and Media Mentors

  • By
  • Lisa Guernsey
May 1, 2013

Is it just me, or has there been a shift lately in the way people talk about technology and young children? In addition to the still-lingering questions of "whether" screen technologies have any role in children's learning, parents and teachers seem to be hungry for more on the "how" -- How should iPads be used? How could apps fit with what I want to show or have children explore? How can I find out what works and what doesn't?

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Last Year the “Worst in a Decade” for High-Quality Pre-K, Annual Report Finds

  • By
  • Alex Holt
April 29, 2013

State pre-K funding shrunk by over half a billion dollars from the 2010-11 to the 2011-12 school year. That was the largest one-year decrease in the last 10 years, leading the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) to declare it the "worst year in a decade” for high-quality pre-K access across the United States.

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New Head Start Findings and Updated Background Pages on Early Learning

  • By
  • Clare McCann
April 25, 2013
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Correction: An earlier version of this post erroneously reported the total number of Head Start teachers with bachelor's degrees as 44 percent. Of the Head Start teachers subject to a 2007 requirement that half earn bachelor's degrees, 62 percent of Head Start teachers have bachelor's degrees as of 2013.

In addition to the president’s fiscal year 2014 budget request, released earlier this month, information on the administration’s education agenda can be gleaned from the new Congressional Justifications documents from the Departments of Education and Health & Human Services.

The Congressional Justifications typically contain details on the president’s latest proposals, but they also include a wealth of information about existing programs. According to the documents, Head Start and Early Head Start declined in enrollment between 2012 and 2013, before an across-the-board budgetary cut resulted in the elimination of seats in some centers around the country. Meanwhile, funding for each program increased slightly before the implementation of this year’s federal sequester.

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At National Journal: The Tobacco Tax is a Place to Start

  • By
  • Laura Bornfreund
April 24, 2013

Last week, the National Journal Education Experts blog asked if funding pre-K with cigarette taxes was a good idea.

I argue that seeking out new and creative funding streams has merit and that the tobacco tax is worth talking about. But I also caution that such a tax should not and cannot realistically be the long-term solution:

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Study Highlights Significant Benefits of Boston Public Schools Pre-K Program

  • By
  • Clare McCann
April 23, 2013

Earlier this month, President Obama proposed a new program that would provide funding for states to offer pre-K to all 4-year-olds from low-income families.

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Head Start Winners Include Very Few Brand-New Providers

April 18, 2013

This guest post was written by J.M. Holland, a Head Start teacher in Richmond, Va., recent graduate of the educational leadership doctoral program at Virginia Commonwealth University, and blogger at The Future of Teaching. 

At the start of this month, the Office of Head Start named 160 preliminary winners in the Obama’s administration’s new “re-competition” process for determining which institutions deserve continued funding to run Head Start and Early Head Start programs. These winners were a combination of 100 providers who had already been administering Head Start and Early Head Start grants and 60 “new” providers. Of those new grantees, only a handful -- three, by my calculation -- are organizations not involved in Head Start services before.

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The Sad State of Child Care in America

  • By
  • Clare McCann
April 16, 2013
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In “The Hell of American Day Care,” a piece published by The New Republic on Monday, journalist Jonathan Cohn highlights one particularly devastating example of low-quality child care. Four children died in a house fire that took place at a day care program in a private home, while the proprietor, Jessica Tata, was allegedly shopping at a nearby Target and Starbucks, leaving her young charges alone. Tata was sentenced to 80 years in prison.

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New Details on the President’s Pre-K Plan

  • By
  • Laura Bornfreund
April 15, 2013

The release of the President’s fiscal year 2014 budget provides a clearer picture of the quality standards states would have to meet to receive funds under the Obama administration’s “Preschool for All” proposal. The most notable benchmarks are pre-K teachers with bachelor's degrees and salaries for pre-K teachers that are comparable to K-12 teachers’ wages.

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Podcast: Early Ed Team Weighs in on the President’s Budget Proposal

  • By
  • Lindsey Tepe
April 15, 2013
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This week's Education Watch podcast, also available through iTunes, features Clare McCann and Jason Delisle of New America discussing President Obama’s fiscal year 2014 budget request, which provided much-anticipated detail on the administration’s education proposals, including on pre-K and higher-ed policies.
 
The Education Policy Program has reviewed the president’s proposals and generated a
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