Latino voters are a growing force in politics, particularly in California, and a new poll in that state found they place a high value on early learning, but more importantly it reports the top reasons why many don’t use it.

Half of surveyed Latino voters said kids are not in preschool because programs don’t fit the schedules of working parents and 40 percent said it was because of a lack of information. The biggest share of parents, 58 percent, cited a lack of affordable programs. Only 14 percent of Latino children go to high-quality preschools, the report said citing other research.

The survey also found widespread support for preschool, with 83 percent of surveyed Latino voters saying it’s “highly important that children attend preschool programs.” The survey was released by Preschool California, a group working to improve early learning in California, so the results are somewhat colored. That’s why the reasons Latino families don’t use early learning programs are more interesting.

In addition: “Two-thirds of Latino voters (65%) think the state is doing too little to ensure all children have access to affordable high-quality preschool.”

Proposed Boost in Oklahoma Ed Spending Could Cut Pre-K: Trouble is brewing in Tulsa, where Republican State Speaker-designate of the House Kris Steele warns an initiative that would boost per-pupil spending could wind up killing pre-kindergarten programs, according to a news report.

The debate is far from settled and reflects the complex and difficult discussions occurring about tight state budgets across the country.

Noting that the measure requires Oklahoma to match regional per-pupil common education spending, Steele said: “One way the Legislature … would be able to meet that goal is to reduce the number of students within our common education system. I’m afraid one of the first things that would go would be our early childhood initiatives.” – House leader says education funding measure would doom early childhood programs.

We will keep following this debate. Meanwhile, check out the story.

The country may be slowly emerging from the recession, but cuts to state prekindergarten spending are only getting deeper, a new report says.

So far, prekindergarten programs have lost $348 million in funding in fiscal 2010 and 2011, according to a report from the National Institute for Early Education Research.

And those state cuts are only part of the story.

As many programs depend on local funding as well as state funding, total cuts of government funds likely exceed state cuts. – “Brief Report: Funding cuts to state-funded prekindergarten programs in FY10 & 11.

If you recall, spending on state pre-k programs slowed last year, and some states cut spending, NIEER reported in “The State of Preschool 2009.” But, the report warned more cuts could be coming. 

“The immediate future of pre-K seems much more perilous than past trends might suggest…State budgets will more fully bear the brunt of the recession in 2010 and 2011.” NIEER co-director Steven Barnett, author of the 2009 report and co-author of the recent update, said in a statement earlier this year.

Washington is among the states that cut, trimming $1.7 million in fiscal ’10 and $10.4 million in fiscal ’11, according to the latest brief. 

 Senate Adds Money for Toddlers and Infants with Disabilities:  There was some good budget news today. The Senate Appropriations Committee added $20 million for the main federal program for disabled infants and toddlers, known as Part C, The Council for Exceptional Children reports.

At almost the 11th hour in a vote backing right up to recess, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an increase in IDEA Part B funding of $420 million dollars and - somewhat more surprisingly – it approved an increase in IDEA Part C funding of $20 million dollars. – “Senate Appropriations Committee Approves Increases in Funding for IDEA B and C.”

I was reading through the Education Department’s recent Listening and Learning Tour materials when I stumbled across a great resource and argument for the effort to integrate pre-kindergarten with early elementary grades.

The slides lay out the reasons behind the PreK-3rd movement, explaining why we need to create better transitions between pre-k and elementary school, including that third grade is now seen as a critical turning point in a student’s education and that investment in quality early learning needs to be sustained by a K-12 education of similar quality.

It also offers a few research findings that make a strong case:

• “Only one-third of all American children are reading at grade level or above when tested at the beginning of fourth grade.”
• “Over 80 percent of African American, Hispanic/Latino, and American Indian low-income children are not reading at grade level when tested at the beginning of fourth grade.” –

“PreK-3rd: A New Beginning for American Education,” Ruby Takanishi, president of the Foundation for Child Development.

The slide show also lays out recommendations for improving PreK-3rd integration, such as coordinating pay and training for teachers in pre-k and teachers in early elementary grades. Takanishi also has a great handout that lists useful PreK-3rd resources.

Poor sleep linked to bad behavior among grade schoolers: Along with good parenting, schools and diet, a good night’s sleep is a key element in a child’s development. A new study reports “poor sleep was linked with more aggression and delinquency, as well as a higher incidence of depression, anxiety and low self-esteem,” The Juggle reports today.

“All the kids in the study tended to have more emotional and behavior problems when their sleep was impaired. But the effect was largest among children under stress, such as those from poor families. In contrast, when the kids in poverty got enough sleep, their behavior tended to fall near a normal range, according to the study, led by Mona El-Sheikh of Auburn University.” – The Juggle, Wall Street Journal, 6/7/10.

It is worth checking out.

Students are failing to reach key reading benchmarks by fourth grade, setting them up for failure later in high school and life, according to a new report that suggested one of the solutions is integrating early learning and the first grades of elementary school.

An incredible 83 percent of students from poor families, and 67 percent of all students, failed to reach proficiency in reading by fourth grade, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation report.  This failure is about more than low scores on fourth-grade tests.

“Failure to read proficiently is linked to higher rates of school dropout, which suppresses individual earning potential as well as the nation’s competitiveness and general productivity.” – Early Warning! Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters, 5/18/10.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation lays out a plan to address the problem, and early learning plays a key role.

“They need to be present at school because they can’t learn if they aren’t there. And they need to have high quality learning opportunities, beginning at birth and continuing in school and during out-of-school time, including summers, in order to sustain learning gains and not lose ground. For millions of American kids, these conditions are not met.” Early Warning. “The system we envision would promote a widely shared focus on the target results of: children born healthy; children healthy, thriving, and developing on track (no untreated health conditions or avoidable developmental delays), from birth through third grade and beyond; children developmentally ready (cognitively, socially, physically, and emotionally) to succeed in school at the time of school entry…”

The good news is Thrive by Five Washington is already working on solutions highlighted in the report. For example, Thrive by Five’s Culture of Literacy initiative is based on the idea that literacy begins in infancy. Plus, Thrive regularly supports the role of parents as their children’s first teachers.

But, the report makes it clear there is a lot of work left. So, the Annie E. Casey Foundation is launching a ten-year campaign to boost reading proficiency.

“…Our 10-year goals are to (1) “close the gap” between the children of low-income rural and urban families and their higher-income counterparts; (2) increase by 50% the number and proportion of students who are grade-level proficient readers by the end of third grade; and (3) “raise the bar” so that these readers truly are proficient by the rigorous standards that will put them on track to graduate from high school and to compete with the rest of the world.”

Check out the plan and entire report here.

The PreK-3rd movement took a step forward in Washington state this week when three key players handed out $117,073 in mini grants to strengthen links between preschools and early elementary grades.

Thrive by Five Washington, the Department of Early Learning and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction awarded the grants to 13 school districts around the state to help them work on transitions to kindergarten, early numeracy and literacy.

“Local communities often have the best ideas, but the most limited funds,” Thrive by Five Washington president Nina Auerbach said in a statement. “These mini-grants are seed money to move promising ideas forward.”

The school districts will spend the money on a range of work, from buying evidence-based curriculum for child care centers to training providers to help smooth students’ transitions to kindergarten. Another interesting initiative will help develop meetings between early learning staff and kindergarten teachers.

To get a grant, a school district had to show “a local P-3 partnership that included the district, early learning providers and an existing early learning coalition,” DEL said.

Last week, I raised questions about early learning’s role in the debate over overhauling the federal law governing K-12 education, and now there are a few sites to read and watch for answers in the coming months.

• Early Learning in ESEA, Part 4: Something is Missing in the ‘Blueprint’ – Early Ed Watch Blog, 3/16/10. As usual this New America Foundation blog is on top of early learning news with a post that explores the lack of early education elements in the Obama administration’s blueprint for rewriting the No Child Left Behind Act.
• A blueprint for revising the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) – U.S. Education Department.  Speaking of the Obama administration, you can read its proposal, watch President Barack Obama talk about his ideas, and listen to Education Secretary Arne Duncan discuss the plan here. (A transcript is also available.)
• Asking the right questions about early childhood priorities – EarlyStories, 3/17/10.

The debate is just getting started and we will update this site with new resources and news.

Paying Preschool Teachers: Education.com offers an insightful look at why salaries are so low in the early learning industry in Is Your Pre-K Teacher Giving What They Get?

“There’s no job you would hire anybody for that if you paid half the going wage, you would expect to get the same results. Yet, that’s what we do with preschool programs.”

(Adele) Robinson (director of Public Policy for the National Association for the Education of Young Children) points to Florida as an example of underfunded preschool programs. There they have universally available Pre-K, but according to Robinson, the legislature wasn’t invested in the concept. “They give so little money to a provider per child that you couldn’t possibly achieve high quality,” she says, “and then they’re assessing them in kindergarten and saying, ‘Oh my, why aren’t they ready?” – Education.com.

As the U.S. economy slumped over the last two years, poor families faced longer waits for spots in state-funded preschools and pre-kindergartens in Washington State, as the number of families on waiting lists soared 263 percent, one group reports.

At the end of 2007, there were 1,246 four-and-five-year-olds waiting for spots in the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program – a state version of Head Start, the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP reported last month, citing figures from the Department of Early Learning.

As 2009 closed, the waiting list stood at 3,540 kids.

“The economy has had a devastating effect on children and families in Washington, and ECEAP programs are seeing more demand every day” the Washington State Association of Head Start and ECEAP’s head, Joel Ryan, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, providers are struggling.

“With school district budgets also constricting some districts are downsizing their early education program and/or eliminating them outright.  Child care centers are also struggling to stay open with the difficulty w/ families keeping their subsidy in place,” Janet Anderson, an ECEAP provider in Sequim, Wa., said in a statement. “I think we are also seeing some program(s) closing down.”

There is no guarantee the waiting list won’t get longer. Currently, the Washington legislature is in a special session trying to finish the state budget. While the House budget plan would preserve ECEAP funding at current levels, the Senate version would cut $190,000, or roughly 29 slots, from the program, according to the group.

The 25-year-old program is focused on helping poor families - roughly two-thirds of ECEAP families earn less than 80 percent of the federal poverty line, according to the association.

“In a 12-year longitudinal study of ECEAP (1988-2000), researchers found that ECEAP children made significantly greater academic gains, displayed more positive behaviors, enjoyed school more, and had fewer health problems than non-ECEAP children.” – Washington State Head Start and ECEAP Association, 2/4/10.

Babies Want to Dance: Now I could have told you this based on my own babies’ dancing, but researchers found “Babies are born to boogie”.

 “The research showed babies respond to the rhythm and tempo of music, and find it more engaging than speech.” – LiveScience, via MSNBC.com.

First Lady Michelle Obama gave the fight against childhood obesity a major boost when she took a leading role last month, and one of the places she may want to focus on is preschool, the National Institute for Early Education Research suggests this week.

While parents may think preschool is a place where their kids race around, run and play, a study found students engaged in “moderate to vigorous exercise” only 3.4 percent of their day at preschool. Granted, there are other things to do beyond run around outside, but the level found in the Children’s Activity and Movement in Preschools Study seems way too low.

Researchers also highlighted one of my favorite topics: well-designed open spaces in early learning. They found open space, fixed equipment, ball and object use “are associated with high levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity.” – Preschool’s Role in Fighting Childhood Obesity. 3/9/10.

“In view of the high levels of sedentary activity observed, the researchers call for careful attention in designing outdoor spaces for preschoolers. Designs should include sufficient open spaces and specific outdoor play materials associated with increased levels of physical activity.”— Preschool’s Role in Fighting Childhood Obesity.

What are parents noticing at their preschools? Are your kids getting enough exercise? The story is short and worth checking out.

Child Care Economics in the News: Another writer tackled one of my other favorite topics in The economics of child care: Why do long waiting lists persist?The story offers reasons why child care doesn’t fit the supply-and-demand model from Ohio State University professor David Blau, who edited a book entitled The Economics of Child Care. The reasons include the idea that many child care services are not run as typical businesses and that many parents “aren't willing to pay a premium for high-quality child care…,” according to the Vancouver Sun article. It is another easy read worth checking out.