New America Launches Early Education Reform Initiative

WASHINGTON, DC (December 13, 2005) – The New America Foundation launched an Early Childhood Initiative today, and released a policy paper calling for fundamental changes in U.S. early education, specifically aimed at expanding and improving services to children in pre-kindergarten through third grade (PK-3). “As Congress begins to consider reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act and the education and training demands of the global economy, maximizing the effectiveness of our early childhood education system takes on greater significance,” stated Michael Dannenberg, Director of New America Foundation’s Education Policy Program. Our nation’s education report card tells a tale of serious deficiencies. Early education—from prekindergarten to 3rd grade—is a critical component of a strong education system. Lack of a coordinated integrated system from prekindergaten through high school has a large and widespread negative impact on our ability to compete in the global market place. "As a society, we pay a high price when our education system fails to give all children a strong start — from lower test scores to higher school drop-out rates, higher crime rates, and more instances of teen pregnancy,” stated Shelley Waters Boots, author of the New America report and former Director of the Early Childhood Education Initiative. “The time is now to raise the profile of this issue and reframe the debate by placing PK-3 at the forefront of education reform discussions.” Over the next 18 months, the New America Foundation will produce several policy papers that will outline in greater detail both innovative policy changes as well as the political factors needed to build a PK-3 early education system in this country. The Initiative will advance the following: · Building a universally accessible, effective full-day pre-kindergarten system. · Providing access to full-day kindergarten programs that nurture children’s learning and connect with the early elementary grades. · Designing a system of aligned curriculum, standards and instructional practices that inspire all children to learn. · Establishing high teacher qualifications and providing adequate compensation to have the best and brightest teaching our youngest students. · Ensuring that programs support children’s needs and engage parents as children’s first and lifelong teachers. · Addressing the financing inequalities in the current PK-3 system to ensure that all children have access to the best education in the world. The first policy paper in this series, “Building a 21st Century Economy: The Case for Investing in Early Childhood Education Reform,” can be downloaded from the New America website. (http://www.newamerica.net/Download_Docs/pdfs/Doc_File_2753_1.pdf)