As policymakers debate how to reform the U.S. education system, and early learning’s role in that effort, some advocates are suggesting they look to states for ideas.
Early education advocates are talking with senators and representatives about how deficit-laden states are finding ways to encourage expansion of pre-kindergarten, according to Kathy Patterson, a senior government relations officer at the Pew Center on the States. (http://www.preknow.org)
“One of the points we are trying to make to federal officials (is) states are trying to use their very limited resources to incentivize local school districts to ramp up their pre-k programs,” Patterson said in an interview earlier this week. “States and local school districts could use another partner - the federal government - to support their efforts to grow pre-k to serve more children,” she added later.
Those federal officials could look to Washington State for ideas. Despite a nearly $3 billion budget deficit, Gov. Christine Gregoire and Washington legislators enacted early education reforms and avoided deep cuts in critical programs this year. For example, policymakers made changes designed to improve child care subsidies and to expand the Early Childhood Education and Assistance program in the coming years
Plus, Patterson is optimistic that a plan to reform the Elementary and Secondary Education Act will include an early learning component, even if that plan doesn’t come together this year.
Is Bright Beginnings Going to End? There is a report that North Carolina’s established early learning program Bright Beginnings could be in trouble.
Today, even proponents of public pre-K say the sweeping claims that launched the program may not be realistic. No matter how strong the classroom start, a student's experiences with schools, family life and peers shape success or failure in the years that follow, experts say.
“There’s no one-shot deal, one year that’s going to be the vaccine,” says Ellen Peisner-Feinberg, a UNC Chapel Hill early childhood researcher. – Does Bright Beginnings Really Work? Charlotte Observer, 5/18/10.
Check out the view of the excellent blog EarlyStories or read the full article. (Thanks to EarlyStories for highlighting the Observer story.)