Head Start

The first panel discussion at our “Before Birth and Up Through Third Grade” forum was on leveraging public funding, a timely topic for the budget crunches most states, school districts, and individual programs are facing.

The conversation that started during that panel is continuing over in our online discussion space at earlyedforum.newamerica.net.

Unemployment rates are stagnating around 9.5 percent nationally, and debates rage in states and localities over how to create more jobs for local workers. Early childhood advocates may not see themselves as players in these discussions, but Timothy Bartik would argue otherwise.

While states collect quite a bit of data about early childhood programs and the children who participate, meaningful connections are missing and basic questions go unanswered.

This was a key finding of an inaugural state survey conducted by the Early Childhood Data Collaborative (ECDC).*

The following is an excerpt from a post at our sister blog, Higher Ed Watch:

For some time now, education schools have come under fire for the quality of teachers they prepare and graduate. Just this fall, multiple critical reports have been released, calling for these programs to improve clinical practice and coursework in the developmental sciences, and better reflect the issues, initiatives and reforms that are becoming more popular in school districts. In addition, U.S. News & World Report and the National Council on Teacher Quality announced a joint effort in January to rate the 1,400 education schools across the country.

Last week, we at the New America Foundation's Early Education Initiative added our own analysis on problems with the preparation and licensing of teachers who work specifically with young children in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, first-, second- and third-grade classrooms

It’s never easy to tell a clear story about the federal budget and how it works, but this year the challenge is particularly acute. So we’ve asked one of our experts here at the New America Foundation to help clarify and explain the progress, or lack of progress, that Congress is making in its work on approving a federal budget that will fund programs in early education and other areas.

Last Thursday, Senator Robert P. Casey, Jr. (D-PA) introduced the “Supporting State Systems of Early Learning Act.” The bill is the latest incarnation of the Early Learning Challenge Fund—a competitive grant program to encourage states to build and strengthen high-quality early learning.

If you had to pick the hardest nuts to crack in early education policy, what would they be?

That was the question that animated discussions near the end of our policy forum last week. Everyone who attended -- which included about 70 people from school districts, national advocacy groups, philanthropic foundations and research centers -- was assigned to one of six roundtables. Each table had the same assignment: From a list of subject areas, they were asked to choose two that evoke the most challenging problems among educators and policymakers in the early education space. Here's what they had to choose from:

Last week, the Early Education Initiative hosted a forum on education policy connections across the "birth-through-third-grade" spectrum. The forum inspired rich discussion and cross-pollination of ideas across several sectors. Though it was a long day, participants didn't want the conversation to end.

It doesn't have to. We have created an online discussion space that is open to anyone interested in discussing how to improve policies and create more cohesive and high-quality learning opportunities for children all the way up through the early grades of elementary school.

Today, the New America Foundation's Early Education Initiative released a report that highlights problems nationwide with the licensing and preparation of teachers who work with young children in pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, first-, second- and third-grade classrooms.

Here at the Early Education Initiative, we have just released our bi-annual issue brief with recommendations for the U.S. Congress. This year's installment is titled "12 Ideas for Early Education in the 112th Congress."