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So What Exactly Is "PreK-3rd"?
New America Releases Video on Effective School Reform that Features Montgomery County Schools
The New America Foundation's Early Education Initiative
released a short (7 min) video, "Fighting Fade-Out Through PreK-3rd Reform,"
which makes the case for comprehensive
PreK-3rd reforms that begin with high-quality early childhood
education programs and build on the benefits of those programs through the
elementary school years and beyond.
Research has documented impressive academic advantages among
children who attend high-quality early education programs. Yet many teachers
have seen the promise of programs like pre-kindergarten and Head Start
"fade-out" by the time children finish 3rd grade because their elementary
schools are not prepared to nurture and sustain this early growth.
The video features a discussion with Dr. Jerry Weast,
Superintendent of Montgomery County Schools in Maryland, a district that has successfully
used PreK-3rd reform as a way to close achievement gaps and improve academic
success for all students in the district.
Video of the entire (30 min) conversation with Dr. Weast is
available here.
In a related post on the Early
Ed Watchblog, Satkowski argues that schools receiving funds under the
stimulus legislation should consider PreK-3rd reform as a way to build a solid
foundation for success in elementary school and beyond.
This story has been brought to you by the letter S and the numbers 15
and 40. (Or, as the Count might say in his adorable Transylvanian
accent, "fivteen and forrrty-HA, HA, HA!") The S, as anyone who has
ever watched television can deduce by now, stands for Sesame Street.
The 40 is almost as easy: this year marks the 40th anniversary of sunny
days, friendly neighbors and the fuzzy creatures who live on that
street where the air is sweet. If you haven't watched recently… more
As Congress debates a roughly $825 billion economic stimulus
package, many interest groups want to make sure their pet programs get a piece
of the action. The education community is no exception.
Various advocates are urging Congress to use the stimulus to
fund universal pre-k, expanded after-school programs, education technology, and
new teacher compensation packages, among other education initiatives.
Advocates for early childhood education are understandably excited about their prospects under President-elect Barack Obama's administration. During the campaign, Mr. Obama pledged to increase federal early education spending by $10 billion annually.
Currently, the two largest federal early childhood programs, Head Start and the Child Care and Development Block Grant, spend about $12 billion annually combined. A $10 billion increase would almost double that investment.
Deep Creek Elementary School is an education success story. In 2001, Deep Creek, where more than three-quarters of students come from low-income families and 80 percent are black or Hispanic, was one of the worst elementary schools in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its third-graders were reading at a first-grade level. But the new principal, Anissa Brown Dennis, expanded collaboration and professional development for teachers, implemented an aligned reading and math curriculum from pre-K through third grade, and offered summer learning and… more
In 1961, 13 three- and four-year-olds from poor black families began attending a preschool class at Perry Elementary School in Ypsilanti, Michigan. They were there as much to learn as to teach. A team of researchers followed not only their time at the preschool, but their trajectory over the next four decades, and the findings were startling:
Compared to a control group of similar children who didn’t attend preschool, this class from Perry Elementary School would be less likely to… more
In April, the states and school districts began receiving the first installment of more than $48 billion in federal economic stimulus funds for education and child care appropriated under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA). This unprecedented federal investment in education—from early childhood through college—is a tremendous opportunity for state and local investments to improve our nation's schools. The danger is that states and school districts may squander these funds on ill-conceived projects or use them simply to maintain… more
On April 1, 2009, the states began to receive education and child care
funds appropriated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
(ARRA, or "the stimulus").[1]
Child care advocates in several states have urged policymakers to use
some of the stimulus funds to launch or expand a statewide Quality
Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for providers of early childhood
education and care.
As a new congress and new administration take their places
in Washington,
early education is attracting more attention. The 111th Congress
will have numerous opportunities to enact policies that improve access,
quality, efficiency, and alignment in early education, including the
forthcoming economic stimulus package and the scheduled reauthorization of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), also known as No Child Left
Behind (NCLB). The New America Foundation's Early Education Initiative proposes
Over the past eight years, states have dramatically expanded
their support for publicly-funded pre-k programs, and the number of children
enrolled in these programs has grown significantly. States are investing in
pre-k because research shows that high-quality pre-kindergarten programs can
have a positive long-term impact on children’s life outcomes, help narrow the
achievement gap between poor and affluent youngsters, and that the benefits of
these investments to children and the taxpaying public outweigh their costs.
In other words, high-quality pre-k is a key weapon in the… more
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) seeks to improve student learning and narrow academic achievement gaps that place low-income and minority students at a disadvantage relative to their affluent and white peers. Evidence shows that the roots of children’s academic success or failure are already firmly in place by third grade and as much as half of the black-white achievement gap already exists before children enter first grade. Therefore, to achieve its ambitious goals NCLB must do a much… more
Early education is the subject of unprecedented bipartisan interest from both Capitol Hill and the Obama administration. Advocates herald the lifetime savings of effective pre-k interventions, which have been calculated between $7 and $10 for every dollar invested. But what does “quality” mean in terms of closing the achievement gap? And what are the implications for policy?
Data show that children who are born in poverty to young,
poorly educated parents have much lower chances of succeeding in school,
college, and the workforce than their less-disadvantaged peers. They are also
at greater risk for a host of negative outcomes, including poor academic
performance, being held back a grade, dropping out of high school, being
unemployed, and participating in criminal activity.
After peaking in 2002, child well-being in the United States has been stagnant for five years. Meanwhile, recent data from the Child Well-Being Index shows some disturbing upward trends in child obesity and youth violence, as well as a persistent academic achievement gap. To date, public policy has not sufficiently mobilized to combat these issues before they start to affect the nation’s children. The New America Foundation brought together key policy makers and experts involved in improving child well-being to… more
Congressional leaders recently announced that they will not finish reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act -- the major federal law authorizing elementary and secondary education programs -- this year, but will continue working on reauthorization in 2008. This gives Congress a chance to revisit an issue that was largely ignored in this year’s debate over NCLB reauthorization: early education for pre-school and early elementary aged youngsters.
Evidence shows that the foundations of children’s future academic success… more
The upcoming reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) presents an opportunity for the federal government to expand access to high-quality, early education programs. At present, quality standards vary widely among federal, state, local, and private early care and education programs, and relatively few programs align their curricular and teacher standards with early elementary school grades. There is a role for the federal government to play in both expanding access and harmonizing decentralized early education programs horizontally across… more
