The early learning world is full of news these days about babies learning math, new money for home visiting efforts and the importance of confident teachers. Check out the news below as you drink that second cup of coffee.

Babies may be smarter than many thought: Infants can begin to organize numbers, space and time, suggesting they sort their new worlds in a clearer way than some thought, ScienceDaily reported  this week, citing new research.

"We've shown that 9-month-olds are sensitive to 'more than' or 'less than' relations across the number, size and duration of objects,” Stella Lourenco, an Emory University psychologist who led the research, said in the story.

"If we are not born with this system, it appears that it develops very quickly …Either way, I think it's amazing how we use quantity information to make sense of the world,"  Lourenco added.

Check out the article.

$1.5 Billion for Home Visiting: The federal government is getting ready to start sending out $1.3 billion for home visiting programs and Washington State could win $1.3 million in the first round, the Children’s Alliance reports. Earlier this year, Congress and President Barack Obama approved the money as part of the huge health care reform law.

Confident Teachers Help with Reading: Confident teachers may help preschoolers with early literacy, HealthDay News reports via the U.S. News & World Report.

Highly confident teachers and emotional support in the classroom play important roles in helping preschoolers learn language and literacy skills, a new study has found. – Health Day. “Preschoolers' Skills Get Boost From Confident Teachers,” 6/11/10.

Congress is back in session and new home visitation funding is back on track after Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus included $1.5 billion over five years for the work in his version of health care reform.

The Finance Committee is slated to take up Baucus’s plan – the chairman’s “mark” should serve as a starting point – this Tuesday. While less ambitious than President Barack Obama’s proposal to spend $8.6 billion over ten years on home visitation, Sen. Baucus’s plan is interesting.

Overall, the Senate bill would create a state grant program for early childhood home visitation.

As part of that plan, the bill would require states to rely on proven and research-based programs, but it also would leave room for experimentation. It would allow a grantee to spend 25 percent of their funds on a promising new program, which would be “rigorously evaluated.”

The bill would allocate three percent for research and evaluation, which sounds a little low for an area with a need for a lot of innovation and flexibility.

Groups that won funding “would be required to establish appropriate process and three and five year outcome benchmarks to measure improvement in maternal and child health, childhood injury prevention, school readiness, juvenile delinquency, family economic factors, and coordination with community resources.” – “Chairman’s Mark America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009.”

It is too early to say what if any home visitation program and funding will become law this year. But with the Obama administration backing the idea and versions in the

House and Senate health care reform bills, it seems like fresh funding could make it to the president’s desk.

(Thanks to The Early Ed Watch Blog for finding this news.)

Further reading:

• “Chairman’s Mark America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009.”
• Early Ed Watch Blog, “Home Visitation Program Appears in Latest Health Care Proposal.”

Congress is getting ready for its August recess, so it’s been a busy week for federal issues. Thanks to our friends at The Early Ed Watch Blog in D.C. for providing the highlights!

As of this posting, the House has yet to vote on the Early Learning Challenge Fund, which would provide $1 billion in funding for Early Learning Challenge Grants over each of the next eight years.

News

• Senate Committee Advances Appropriations Bill Funding Early Childhood Programs – 7.31.09, New America Foundation: The Early Ed Watch Blog
• Fate of Home Visitation Program Is Tied To Health Reform Bill – 7.29.09, New America Foundation: The Early Ed Watch Blog
• Ohio Slashes Early Childhood Budget and Eliminates Full-Day Pre-K – 7.23.09, New America Foundation: The Early Ed Watch Blog

Analysis 

• On the Move: New Research Explores How Mobility Impacts Achievement Among Younger Students – 7.28.09, New America Foundation: The Early Ed Watch Blog

Opinion

• Op-ed: Stimulus money shores up early-learning programs, provides opportunities – 7.26.09, The Seattle Times (Written by Chris Korsmo, executive director of The League of Education Voters, and Paola Maranan, executive director of the Children's Alliance.)

President Barack Obama tucked a sizeable investment into his 3-plus trillion dollar budget last week for early learning that begins even before children are in preschool and child care, $8.6 billion over 10 years for home visitation programs.

Obama wants to spend the money on “evidence-based” efforts focused on low-income families.

The proposal is further proof of Obama’s support of early learning as an investment that can pay big returns later in a child’s life. Quality home visiting programs can help prepare kids for school, reduce child abuse and neglect, and support children’s cognitive, emotional and language development, according to experts and Obama’s budget.

“Mentoring young parents so they can provide for their infant’s health, safety and cognitive development prevents a host of expensive problems, from medical emergencies to juvenile delinquency.  The pay-off is a return of up to $5.70 on each dollar we invest in high-quality home visitation programs serving at-risk families,” Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said in a statement.

Congress still needs to approve the funding during its annual appropriations battles. If federal money starts moving, though, Washington state is in a good position to receive funds, according to Joan Sharp, executive director of the Seattle-based Council for Children & Families.

Over the last four years, Washington got a head start by launching home visiting initiatives and building knowledge of what it takes to create successful evidence-based programs, the kind Obama wants to fund, Sharp added. Home visiting is one of the seven key strategies that Thrive by Five Washington is using in its two demonstration communities of White Center and East Yakima.

“I think there is consensus we have laid a strong foundation,” Sharp said. “I think Washington is particularly well-positioned to be successful in a grant process.”

(Thanks to CLASP for highlighting this budget item.)