Early Ed Watch

Via David Hoff, my New America colleague Michael Dannenberg offers a useful insight: The politics of NLCB are more "top-down" than "left-right," meaning that the real divide of opinion on these policies is between federal- and state-level officials and policymakers who've led the charge in calling for increased standards and accountability, and local level educators (and the groups that represent them) who have to actually translate those demands into improve performance for k

Writing in the Globe and Mail, Canadian columnist John Ibbitson offers an interesting perspective on the current U.S. presidential race. Ibbitson notes that the tenor of the campaign debate has pushed education reform out of the public view in this race, and wonders why, given the issue's importance to America's future. Ibbitson makes a pretty bold prediction:

With childhood obesity on the rise, parents, educators, and policymakers are increasingly concerned with how to get young kids eating healthier foods. The New York Times looks at 6 common mistakes parents make when it comes to children and food--and offers recommendations for reversing them.

Photo by flickr user churl, used under a Creative Commons license.

I'm traveling to Arkansas today, where I'm going to be learning more about the state's excellent pre-k system and also speaking at the University of Arkansas. Arkansas is kind of a sleeper state on early education issues: It doesn't get a ton of national attention, but it's got some really good stuff going on and is a national leader in a number of ways.