Early Ed Watch

Here's some good news for pre-k even in difficult economic times: This month the state legislature in Alaska, one of twelve states that does not have a state pre-k program, passed Gov. Sarah Palin's proposed $2 million pilot pre-k program.

Today the National Center on Education Statistics released results from the 2008 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)-Long Term Trend, a federally administered assessment, also known as "The Nation's Report Card," designed to provide an independent picture of what America's students know and can do.

Child care is expensive, and for many families, economic hard times have made quality child care unaffordable. Stories are emerging about how parents are being forced to pull their children out of care, find alternative arrangements, or even quit work because the cost of child care has exceeded what their paychecks provide. Other stories describe how emptier classrooms impact providers, how infants are particularly affected (because caring for infants requires more staff and is therefore more expensive), or how fewer children in well-supervised care has led to an increase in cases of child abuse or neglect. ABC News produced a video about how this is impacting middle class families who can't pay for care but still make too much to qualify for child care subsidies or Head Start. Earlier this week New York Times columnist Bob Herbert wrote about fewer children being able to gain access to necessary health services.

Poor academic achievement on multiple levels -- including dismal showings among middle class students in America compared to other countries -- has led the United States to lose hundreds of billions of dollars in its gross domestic product, according to a report released by McKinsey & Company today.

The report makes a case for the devastating economic impact of not improving the nation's schools. Its data show that achievement gaps have imposed "the economic equivalent of a permanent deep recession." The report does not offer specific recommendations for getting out of this ditch, other than to look more closely at the few school systems that are making progress and adopt their practices.

The way out was left to a discussion with education and civil rights leaders at the formal unveiling of the report at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., today. Disappointingly, although the Rev. Al Sharpton voiced strong applause lines about the need for change, there was no specific mention of what might be achieved by offering better early childhood education opportunities to young children and tying those early experiences to what is taught in elementary schools.