Report: Preschools should place More Emphasis on Math

Preschools don't adequately cover math in part because many preschool teachers aren't as comfortable with the subject, according to a National Research Council report. Preschool math instruction may help disadvantaged students overcome the achievement gap, and researchers recommend improving math curriculum for preschools and revamping teacher training.

Mathematics education has risen to the top of the national policy agenda as part of the need to improve the technical and scientific literacy of the American public. The new demands of international competition in the 21st century require a workforce that is competent in and comfortable with mathematics.

There is particular concern about thechronically low mathematics and science performance of economically disadvantaged students and the lack of diversity in the science and technical workforce. Particularly alarming is that such disparities exist in the earliest years of schooling and even before school entry.

Recognizing the increasing importance of mathematics and encouraged by a decade of success in improving early literacy, the Mathematical Sciences Education Board of the Center for Education at the National Research Council established the Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics. The committee was charged with examining existing research in order to develop appropriate mathematics learning nobjectives for preschool children; providing evidence-based insights related to curriculum, instruction, and teacher education for achieving these learning objectives; and determining the implications of these findings for policy, practice, and future research.

The committee found that, although virtually all young children have the capability to learn and become competent in mathematics, for most the potential to learn mathematics in the early years of school is not currently realized. This stems from a lack of opportunities to learn mathematics either in early childhood settings or through everyday experiences in homes and in communities. This is particularly the case for economically disadvantaged children, who start out behind in mathematics and will remain so without extensive, high-quality early mathematics instruction.

In fact, well before first grade, children can learn the ideas and skills that support later, more complex mathematics understanding. There is expert consensus that two areas of mathematics are particularly important for young children to learn: (1) number, which includes whole number, operations, and relations, and (2) geometry, spatial thinking, and measurement. A rich body of research provides insight into how children’s proficiency develops in both areas and the instruction needed to support it. The committee used this evidence to develop research-based teaching-learning paths to guide policy and practice in early childhood education.

Examination of current standards, curricula, and instruction in early childhood education revealed that many early childhood settings do not provide adequate learning experiences in mathematics. The relative lack of high-quality mathematics instruction, especially in comparison to literacy, reflects a lack of attention to mathematics throughout the childhood education system, including standards, curriculum, instruction, and the preparation and training of the teaching workforce.

Prichard Cmte Wants You to Call Beshear on Pre-K

This from the Prichard Committee:

Governor Steve Beshear has demonstrated support for Kentucky's Preschool Program by recently appointing a Task Force on Early Childhood Development and Education. But his proposed budget in the current special session does not reflect that commitment. The FY 2010 budget proposal would include a 2.6% cut in the state's Preschool Program.

Take action today to tell Governor Beshear that pre-k should be exempt from budget cuts because a strong pre-kindergarten experience is vital to improving our children's chances for greater success in school and as adults....

Prichard cites student benefits accoridng to research: lower grade retention, lower dropout rates, lower arrest rates, less likely to need special education or welfare assistance and more likely to attend college and be employed as adults with higher lifetime earnings.

SOURCE: email alert

Early Intervention

One of the most important methods of closing the achievement gap is early intervention - something lacking for far too many children.

This from Education Week:

Kids Who Need Preschool the Most Aren't Enrolled

Low income and minority children could benefit most from quality preschool, but a new report finds that they're least likely to be enrolled in good early development programs.

In a report released Wednesday by the RAND California Preschool Study, researchers estimate that only 15 percent of those who could benefit most are in high-quality programs that prepare them for success in K-12.

"We can't close the achievement gap unless we close the preparedness gap before kindergarten," said Debra Watkins, founder of the California Alliance of African American Educators. "As a former high school teacher of nearly 30 years, I certainly see what happens (to students who) do not have high quality preschool by the time they reach high school, where we have a dropout problem."
...

As in Alabama: Pre-K plans could face challenge

There is no more important variable to the success of any educational effort than the presence of a high-quality faculty.

This is true at every level of education and in every circumstance.

Consider the case of smaller class sizes. Any veteran teacher knows that their ability to build productive relationships with their students is limited when the numbers get too large. Smaller classes allow for more personalized and more effective instruction. If that was not true, private schools would have 60:1 student teacher ratios.

But when California decided to implement their state-wide lower class size initiative a few years back - without consideration for whether enough qualified teachers existed - the program collapsed under the weight of poor results. The right idea; killed by bad implementation.

The same could be true of Kentucky's effort to expand pre-school opportunities in Kentucky - if we're not careful to implement the program gradually, as qualified teachers become available.

During a school board campaign a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to go door-to-door and speak to many citizens about our schools, and what might be done to improve them. I still remember one parent in particular. She was upset because she couldn't afford to get her daughter into pre-school - and she knew what that would mean for her later on. It meant that her child would start out "behind."

As we talked, I learned that her problem was that she made too much money. Not so much that I would trade her salaries, but too much for her to be considered poor - thus qualifying for free pre-school. She was African American, educated and working. She had been able to afford a small starter home off of Bold Bidder Drive; away from the inner city and its challenges. She was exactly that kind of person I could imagine making the most of such an opportunity for her daughter. In a fair system of free public education, her daughter would not have to start out two years behind her "competition." But it was not to be.

Recently the Prichard Committee has taken up the good cause of universal pre-school in Kentucky for 3 and 4 year olds. This is admirable for any group that is interested in closing achievement gaps. Education limits the size of such gaps at the outset. And they have taken into account our need for qualified teachers who would make the program a success. We need to move quickly to approve such a program - but implement it as sufficient numbers of qualified teachers become availble.

We can't afford to ruin public support for a great idea by moving too quickly.

This from the Press-Register:

[Alabama Governor] Bob Riley's plan to expand the state's pre-kindergarten program could run into a major obstacle: a shortage of qualified teachers.

The majority of those wanting to teach elementary school earn a degree with an elementary education certification, which allows them to teach kindergarten through sixth grade. A separate early childhood designation certifies teachers for pre-kindergarten through third grade. Most choose the elementary option because they'll have more flexibility in landing a job.

"If you can teach seven grades, it enhances your marketability," said Lester Smith, human resources director for Baldwin County Public Schools, who added, "Most teachers are very concerned about finding that first job."

Pre-K teaches basic skills to 4-year-olds, preparing them to step up to kindergarten the next year. Children who complete pre-K perform better through their school years, have higher graduation rates, and eventually earn higher salaries, according to various studies.

Alabama's pre-kindergarten program has won extensive praise, but reaches only a fraction of the children who might take part.

Still, a major expansion would be pointless without qualified teachers...

Candidates support preschool expansion

Fletcher, Beshear also favor higher teacher pay

As a single mother of a 4-year-old son, Melanie Hughes struggles to pay for the pre-kindergarten program he attends each day.

She works full time and her income is too high to qualify for the state's free preschool program.

"I think preschool should be available to all children, but especially working families who cannot afford it," she said. "It's hard for me to believe that I make too much money in order to qualify for free preschool when I have to rotate my bills each month."

The two candidates for Kentucky governor agree.

Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher and his Democratic opponent, Steve Beshear, say Kentucky must expand pre-kindergarten and fully fund full-day kindergarten, according to a Courier-Journal interview and survey of the candidates.

They also endorse additional pay raises for teachers. And both say they have serious concerns about the state's testing system.

Where they differ is in the details.

Beshear, who said one of his biggest concerns is the "limited nature of early childhood education," wants to see the program expanded to include more children, and he promised to "create a new tax revenue" through a job program to pay for it.

But Fletcher says he worries about how the state would pay for an expanded program.

"I will not raise taxes," Beshear said, "but I am going to implement an aggressive jobs program that will stimulate our economy and create more tax revenue for the state."

Beshear also said he will do an efficiency study of state government offices that he expects will find savings of $160 million to $180 million annually. "We are going to look at everything from the kind of light bulbs we buy to where we buy gas for the state fleet," he said.

Including more children

About 36 percent of the state's 3- and 4-year-old children -- roughly 39,000 -- attended Kentucky's preschool and Head Start programs for free last year, according to the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, a nonprofit organization of Kentucky parents and citizens working to improve education.

But an additional 16,000 children in families whose incomes are 1½ to two times the federal poverty level don't have access to high-quality preschool, said Bob Sexton, executive director of the Prichard Committee.

Beshear said he supports expanding free voluntary preschool to children ages 3 and 4 whose family income is less than twice the federal poverty level -- about $41,000 for a family of four...

This from the Courier-Journal.

As States Tackle Poverty,Preschool Gets High Marks

This from Deborah Solomon at the Wall Street Journal:

New Lobbying Strategy
Fuels National Move

For Universal Classes

In Washington and statehouses across the country, preschool is moving to the head of the class.

Florida and Oklahoma are among the states that have started providing free preschool for any 4-year-old whose parents want it. Illinois and New York plan to do the same. Hillary Rodham Clinton wants to spend $15 billion over five years on universal preschool funding. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke calls preschool one cure for inequality.

The movement represents one of the most significant expansions in public education in the 90 years since World War I, when kindergarten first became standard in American schools. It has taken off as politicians look for relatively inexpensive ways to tackle the growing rich-poor gap in the U.S. They have found spending on children is usually an easy sell.

It took a well-orchestrated campaign to put pre-K on the top of political agendas -- and new tactics that didn't rely on do-gooder rhetoric. Among those working on the issue are the research director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, a billionaire Oklahoma oil man and a foundation executive in Philadelphia.

Their winning pitch: Making pre-K as prevalent as kindergarten is a prudent investment. Early schooling, they say, makes kids more likely to stay in school and turn into productive taxpayers.

"Politicians have a choice to make. They can do things like build sports stadiums that offer virtually no economic return, or they can invest in early education programs with a 16% rate of return," says Art Rolnick, the Minneapolis Fed official, who came up with that number after reviewing a three-decade study of youngsters growing up in Ypsilanti, Mich.

So far, few organizations are pushing the case against preschool, but the argument does exist.

Some skeptics predict the hefty return claimed by Mr. Rolnick would quickly shrink if states rush to make preschool universal. They cite some studies suggesting that Head Start, the federal program for disadvantaged preschoolers, gives children little edge when entering elementary school.

"The current full-scale Head Start program is having a disappointing impact on kids," says Douglas Besharov of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "Pre-K is an important part of the tool chest for reducing the achievement gap...but will the return on investment be as great as people say? I don't think so."

Until recently, preschool was for a minority. Most American children began school at age 5 in kindergarten. In 1965, Lyndon Johnson created Head Start for disadvantaged children as young as age 3, part of his War on Poverty. Today, about 900,000 low-income children are enrolled in Head Start, which also includes programs in nutrition and health care.

In all, 55% of 3- and 4-year-olds are now enrolled in a school of some sort. The best-off are most likely to send their children to pre-K: In families with incomes of about $100,000, 80% of 3- and 4-year olds are enrolled, according to the Pew Charitable Trust's National Institute for Early Education Research...

...Pew established its Pre-K Now advocacy group to support activists in states. It funded the National Institute for Early Education Research. To date, Pew has spent about $58 million on the campaign, a substantial sum for a foundation that spends about $250 million a year altogether.

One of Pew's grants, in 2003, provided $542,000 to Columbia University's Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media to "build media knowledge" of preschool. A 2004 Pew analysis said reporters had the perception that "early childhood education was not a 'big-time' story." The institute set out to change that with seminars to give journalists story ideas and tips on how to win prominent placement for the subject...

..A May 2006 Hechinger report boasted that "just three days after the Hechinger seminar" a reporter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch wrote a story about the Virginia governor's plan to give public funding to child-care providers.

About two years into Pew's campaign, the Minneapolis Fed's Mr. Rolnick became an unlikely ally. A Fed economist since 1970, Mr. Rolnick had studied pre-Civil War banking and done research suggesting that governments are wasting money subsidizing sports stadiums. While he has two children, "I thought education started in kindergarten," he says.

In 2003, Mr. Rolnick heard a Minneapolis early-education group argue that government should spend on preschool mainly because it's the right thing to do. He scoffed. "Policymakers need more guidance than that," he says.

The group asked Mr. Rolnick to help make the case. He says he loves to dive into data, so he scrutinized some of the research that helped persuade Ms. Urahn, particularly a 1962 study of 123 low-income black children in Ypsilanti. Half were sent to preschool, and half weren't. After tracking the students over three decades, researchers found those who went to preschool were less likely to need special education and had higher test scores.

Mr. Rolnick and a colleague crunched the data, calculating that for every $1 invested in preschool, there was a $16 return from lower crime, fewer welfare payments and higher earnings.

The magnitude surprised everyone. Mr. Rolnick asked economist James Heckman, a Nobel laureate at the University of Chicago, to check the work. The results matched Mr. Rolnick's.

Among those intrigued was Robert Dugger, a former Democratic staffer on Capitol Hill. He was working at the hedge fund Tudor Investment Corp. as a political and global-risk analyst. Using his own money -- $250,000 so far -- Mr. Dugger started his own think tank and commissioned a paper by Mr. Heckman.

The 2004 paper argued that extending preschool to the four million children under 5 then living under the poverty line would produce a net benefit to the economy of more than $511 billion.

Disadvantaged children who start schooling early are more likely to attend college and "less likely to be teenage mothers and foster a new generation of deprived children," Mr. Heckman wrote.

The paper helped persuade Mr. Dugger's boss, hedge fund magnate Paul Tudor Jones, to contribute $1 million. Mr. Dugger's project has grown from a handful of people sitting around a table in his office to a group of more than 1,000 who gather -- some in person, some on a phone link -- in Washington for two-hour presentations monthly. Pew has kicked in $1 million.

Some remain cautious about the research. Grover J. Whitehurst, director of the federal Institute of Education Sciences, says the studies used to calculate rates of return are too small to be "a basis for generalizing what the economic benefits would be if this was rolled out in various states."

Still, the experience of New York state shows how the publicity is having a practical impact...

...Economist Steven Barnett of the National Institute for Early Education Research says pre-K benefits not only the poor but also middle-class children who are at risk of falling behind in school. "Most of the children who drop out of school or fail a grade are middle-class," says Mr. Barnett.

The University of Chicago's Mr. Heckman counters, "Scarce resources should be directed to the problem areas." Despite his role in pushing the pre-K cause, Mr. Heckman cautions against overdoing it. "There's a great danger here that people are going to rush out and with blind enthusiasm endorse very superficial programs," he says.

~

And this retort from Richard Lee Colvin the Hechinger Institute:

WSJ Notes the National Trend Toward Pre-K

Leave it to the Wall Street Journal to label the national trend toward expanded public spending on pre-kindergarten for what it is: "one of the most significant expansions in public education in the 90 years since World War I, when kindergarten first became standard in American schools."

The Journal's front page article Thursday did what the paper does so nicely: allow a reader who hasn't been following a developing trend to drop in and get a good sense of who the players are, why they're doing what they're doing, the obstacles, and controversies, and what lies ahead. The story notes, for example, that not everyone is on board with the push for "universal" public preschool. Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman, for example, warns about overdoing preschool and says that "scarce resources should be directed to the problem areas."

Mr. Murdoch, don't mess with success, ok?

Full disclosure: the Journal article describes the important role The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Trusts' director of education, Susan Urahn, have played in fueling the national movement to expand public spending on preschool. The article also mentions that the Hechinger Institute is a grantee, and that our role is to help journalists become knowledgeable about the issues surrounding pre-k. As I always say, though, we're not advocates for anything other than good journalism about education.

Study: Learning Aided by Pre-kindergarten Programs

New Mexico's pre-kindergarten program has helped children improve their early learning in language, math and the development of literacy skills, according to a study of the first year of the educational initiative.

Gov. Bill Richardson released the study on Thursday and urged next year's Legislature to continue expanding the program to make preschool services available to all 4-year-olds in New Mexico.

The state started the pre-kindergarten program in the 2005-2006 school year with $5 million and it covered about 1,500 students. About 2,200 children were served in the most recent school year, 2006-2007.

"Our findings are promising, and indicate that New Mexico's state-funded pre-kindergarten initiative is producing the kinds of initial effects likely to lead to increased school success and continued advantages in reading and math skills," the study concluded.

"Meaningful effects were found on children's receptive vocabulary, math, and print awareness skills, with the largest effects apparent on children's early print awareness skills. Children's early print awareness and receptive vocabulary skills have been found to predict later reading abilities in the early elementary grades."

The study was conducted by the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University and sampled more than 800 children. Kindergartners who had completed pre-K the previous year were assessed in the fall of 2006 along with children who were then enrolled in pre-K.

The study found that "participation in the New Mexico pre-K initiative has statistically significant effects on children's learning that are evident when they begin kindergarten." It also said "the estimated effects in New Mexico are comparable in size to those of other well-regarded preschool initiatives," such as one in Oklahoma.

However, the study cautioned that its findings in New Mexico were preliminary because data on the children was from the "early stages" of the program. Studies of additional school years are planned.

Researchers assessed the vocabulary ability of children as well as math skills, including "basic number ideas, simple addition and subtraction, telling time and counting money."

The study estimated that children in pre-K more than doubled their growth in the "understanding of print ideas." ...

This from Education Week (subscription).

Early education gains momentum in states

This fall, states will see the results of the big bucks they are promising to plug into early education programs.

Among several states expanding access to preschool classes, Washington state will have an extra 2,250 pre-kindergarten spaces, Oregon will serve another 3,200 youngsters, and Tennessee will have up to 5,000 more openings. Meanwhile, kindergartners in seven states could see their school hours double as the drive for all-day kindergarten gains momentum.

It’s all part of a push to get more kids learning at a young age when, research has shown, their brains still are developing and they’re most likely to soak in information. Advocates also say that students who have attended preschool are less likely to commit crimes later and more likely to attend college, get jobs and pay taxes.

So far this year legislatures in Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington are among those that answered the call of a record 29 governors who sought to boost funding for their state pre-K programs. Two years ago, only 11 governors asked for such increases.

Currently, 39 states have a state-funded preschool program, although the majority of them only cover low-income kids. Only three states — Georgia, Florida and Oklahoma — offer voluntary preschool to all 4-year-olds. Illinois last year passed a law to create the country’s first universal program for 3-year-olds, as well as 4-year-olds, but the program is being phased in...

This from Stateline.org.

Sexton on Early Childhood Investments

Better for the Economy Than New Stadiums

By Robert F. Sexton,

Executive DirectorPrichard Committee for Academic Excellence

Arthur Rolnick is an economist and senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Not a bleeding heart liberal, I’ll bet.

His background made it particularly noteworthy – and he got people’s attention – when he said he’s “quite certain that investing in early childhood education is more likely to create a vibrant economy than using public funds to lure sports teams by building a new stadium or to attract an automaker by providing tax breaks.” The “high returns on investment in early childhood education are extraordinary,” he says, compared to tax breaks and incentives that states use now to attract new companies and create jobs.

He’s in line with another economist, Nobel Laureate James Heckman, who says that “the best evidence suggests that learning begets learning and early investments in learning are effective. …Cost-effective returns are highest for the young.”

Closer to home, a team of University of Kentucky economists recently concluded their study of the results of Kentucky’s economic development investments over the past seven years. Their central finding: “Kentucky has long been one of the poorest states in the nation, primarily because of Kentuckians’ low level of education. …If we do not also address the much larger issue of our education gap, sustained economic growth, no matter what incentives we offer businesses, will never be realized in Kentucky.”

We believe the fundamental first step toward eliminating this roadblock to our future is high quality preschool for three- or four-year olds and strong early childhood support for all Kentucky kids from birth to five years old.

This continuum of early care and education – quality child care for infants and toddlers as well as strong preschool experiences for three- and four-year-olds – is the foundation of all that follows. Everything known about the early years, when successful development in language, motor skills, adaptive behaviors and social and emotional functioning must occur, shows that early success makes it much more likely that a child will succeed in school—and in life.

Preschool experience is most powerful, researchers say, for children whose home lives limit their chances for strong early development. By the age of three, for instance, the children of poor families have one-half the vocabularies of children from more educated families. One report shows that while a four-year-old from a working-class family has heard 26 million spoken words, and a from a professional family 45 million, a four-year-old from a low-income family has heard 13 million words.

The financial returns that economist Rolnick applauds are documented in numerous long-term cost-benefit studies that show that the return for each dollar we invest in early care and education ranges from $3 to $17. A high-quality preschool experience for at-risk children results in a reduced need for special education, fewer repeated grades, higher high school graduation rates, fewer arrests, higher employment rates, higher earnings and lower welfare dependency.

Increased high school graduation is another tangible payoff. Children who attend preschool programs, one study shows, are 29 percent more likely to graduate from high school. In Kentucky 17,173 potential members of the class of 2006 (in other words, those who were 8th graders in 2002) failed to graduate. The Alliance for Excellence in Education estimates that those dropouts will result in a loss of $4.5 billion in Kentucky wages over their lifetimes, plus a comparable loss in tax revenues and increases for health care and related costs.

“Poor and minority students stand to benefit the most from quality preschool programs,” reports Education Week, so preschool is a critical weapon in the fight to reduce the achievement gap, something that is particularly important in a state like Kentucky, with a large number of poor children.

In fact, quality preschool for every child is the smartest investment a high-poverty state like Kentucky can make. We took good steps forward in incorporating pre-k into our educational system in 1990, and Governors Paul Patton and Ernie Fletcher moved early childhood programs even further. But far too many children are still left far behind.

Last year, about 39,000 (36%) of Kentucky’s three- and four-year-old children were served by Kentucky’s preschool program and Head Start. Of families living at twice the poverty level (a little less than $40,000 for a family of four), 16,000 children are still in need of high quality preschool and don’t have it.

The Prichard Committee, in concert with other child advocates and business leaders, wants to increase access to high quality pre-k programs for all of Kentucky’s children. This is not a new priority for us. Our original recommendations (1984) for improving Kentucky education emphasized the importance of preschool and improved conditions in the early years. Our recent five-year plan selected expanded preschool as one of the key next steps for Kentucky. We’re now working on a statewide campaign (www.StrongStartKy.org) with the support of Pre-K Now, a national organization pushing for higher quality programs across the country.

We will publish a wide-ranging set of recommendations soon, when a coalition of children’s advocacy groups agree upon a comprehensive program to improve the care and education of children from birth to age five. But some key needs are apparent right now:
Kentucky should make voluntary, high-quality preschool available to all three- and four-year-olds from families that cannot afford it.

We need to build on the KIDS NOW program to put teeth in its quality enhancing measures and programs that stimulate healthy growth and development before children enter preschool, including the STARS quality rating system for child care programs, scholarships for child care providers, and the HANDS voluntary home visitation program for new parents.

Sometimes the smartest investments are hard to find, but this one is right under our noses.

Prichard Committee meeting focuses on efforts to expand quality pre-kindergarten in Kentucky

Making quality preschool available to more Kentucky children was the focus of a recent meeting of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

The statewide citizens advocacy group has launched the Strong Start Kentucky campaign, working in partnership with the national organization Pre-K Now to expand and enhance pre-kindergarten throughout the state. Pre-K Now is a public education and advocacy organization, supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, that emphasizes making high-quality, voluntary pre-k available in a variety of settings.

Kentucky performs relatively well on national quality checklists for pre-k, she said, adding that it is important to help communities, civic groups and other organizations understand the importance and benefits of quality pre-k programs. Those benefits include higher graduation rates, reduced crime rates, greater earnings and higher student achievement for people who participate in quality programs.

Still, Kentucky’s statistics point up the need:

275,000 children under the age of 6

46 percent of children living in families whose incomes are below 200 percent of the federal poverty level

11 percent of children living in extreme poverty – below 50 percent of the poverty level

63 percent of mothers with children under 6 are in the workforce

194,700 children under 6 potentially need child care each day

The state’s public preschool program, which serves low-income 4-year-old children (family income 150 percent of poverty or less) and 3- and 4-year-old children with a disability, provides services for more than 24,500 children.

South leads in early childhood education

A report says the region provides public preschool to the

highest percentage of youngsters in the nation.

Rarely do experts extol the virtues of public education in the South.

So it was notable when a report released last Thursday said the Southeast led the nation in state-funded early childhood education.

The Southern Education Foundation, a charity based in Atlanta, said the Southeast provided public prekindergarten to the largest percentage of 3- and 4-year-olds in the country: 19%, compared with 12% in the Northeast, 9% in the Midwest and 5.6% in the West.

This from the Los Angeles Times.

Health Insurance, preschool for all 4 year olds, says Lunsford campaign

Health insurance for all Kentuckians and preschool for all 4-year-olds are part of the platform Bruce Lunsford released yesterday in his campaign for governor.

"This is a good start to what we believe is the road to recovery and economic vitality for the state of Kentucky," Lunsford, a Democrat, said in a telephone press conference about the platform, which includes 25 proposals on health care, education, economic development, energy and ethics.

This from the Courier-Journal.

Time spent in High-quality day care centers was correlated with Higher Vocabulary Scores through elementary school. But, that's only the Good News.

Photo by Bill Crandall for the New York Times

Poor Behavior Is Linked to Time in Day Care

A much-anticipated report from the largest and longest-running study of American child care has found that keeping a preschooler in a day care center for a year or more increased the likelihood that the child would become disruptive in class — and that the effect persisted through the sixth grade.

The effect was slight, and well within the normal range for healthy children, the researchers found. And as expected, parents’ guidance and their genes had by far the strongest influence on how children behaved.

But the finding held up regardless of the child’s sex or family income, and regardless of the quality of the day care center. With more than two million American preschoolers attending day care, the increased disruptiveness very likely contributes to the load on teachers who must manage large classrooms, the authors argue.

This from the New York Times.

More States Offer Preschool

A new report from the National Institute for Early Education Research shows shows more and more states are adding pre-kindergarten programs as research highlights the importance of getting children ready to learn.

"Virtually every state has a very strong movement toward doing a better job with pre-k," said Arthur Rolnick, a senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and part of a group of business leaders calling for giving low-income kids earlier access to public school.

A report released yesterday finds states spent at least $3.3 billion last year on pre-kindergarten. That doesn't include money from federal and local governments, which contribute to the state programs.

The state funding is up from $2.8 billion in 2005, according to the report by the National Institute for Early Education Research at New Jersey's Rutgers University.

In all, nearly 1 million children, or 20 percent of the country's 4-year-olds, were in state pre-kindergarten last year — up from 17 percent the previous year, the report found.

In Kentucky: (NIEER state profile)
Eleven percent of the 3-year olds, and 29 percent of the 4-year olds were enrolled in preschool. State spending was $2,398 per child; down from $3,157 per child in 2002.

State funding for [Kentucky's] program remained level from 2004-2005 to 2005-2006, resulting in the lowest per child funding in the history of Kentucky’s preschool education program. In some districts this led to cuts in hours of service, extra meals, services for children from over-income families, and transportation of Head Start children.

However, the Kentucky Legislature passed a budget for 2006-2007 that grants the state preschool education program an additional $23.5 million, for a total of $75.1 million in that program year.

This from the Washington Post.
The Honolulu Advertiser article here.