It is nearly impossible to keep up with all the news today, but we’ll help with our Week in Review, a roundup of the week’s big stories on early learning policies, research and developments, plus a few things I think are plain interesting. It will run on Fridays.
There was plenty of early learning news, with reports on what leads to success in school, the importance of birth order and playtime, and how billions of dollars from the stimulus package will help early education.
“A new push is now underway to provide better access to early childhood education for rural students.
Congressman Phil Hare, a Democrat from Illinois, introduced legislation last month to help give states and local school districts a boost by establishing programs and grants to school systems and community-based providers.” – Early Stories (Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media.) 4/1/09.
“Advocates for early-childhood education are taking President Obama at his word that the billions of dollars for programs like Head Start included in the recent economic-stimulus package are merely a “down payment” on future expansion.
So, while other education officials are weighing the risks of starting new programs with federal money that may dry up in two years, early-childhood programs are ramping up for expansion after years of being underfunded, their supporters say.” – Education Week, 3/3/09 (via Pre-K Now).
“The research, led by Charles Hillman, a professor of kinesiology and community health and the director of the Neurocognitive Kinesiology Laboratory at Illinois, suggests that physical activity may increase students’ cognitive control – or ability to pay attention – and also result in better performance on academic achievement tests.” – Science Daily, 4/1/09.
“For the first time, a 2008 study has produced empirical evidence about the possible causes. First-born children receive 20 to 30 more minutes of daily quality time from parents than second-born kids of the same age from similar families, says the research. Although many people have hypothesized that firstborns get more parental time, this study, by Joseph Price of Brigham Young University, is the first I’ve seen that has the data to prove it.” – The Juggle, Wall Street Journal, 3/31/09.
“Conventional wisdom says that children who score well on reading and vocabulary tests are going to be the ones who, in later grades, are most likely to be able to focus, follow through on assignments and show other behaviors that typically lead to school achievement. But research presented by Chantelle J. Dowsett of the University of Texas at Austin showed that there was no significant link between reading skills and learning-related behaviors. Instead, the link to success in elementary school was strongest among children with strong early math scores and few reports of attention problems.
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“For years, researchers had thought that disruptive children would be struggling students later. What Stipek said she has come to understand is that "we don't really know what is causing what." It is looking likely, she added, that a child's ability to focus and pay attention are tied up in how they behave -- that, for example, disruptive children may be driven to act out because of they are having difficulty paying attention in class.” – The Early Ed Watch Blog, 4/3/009.
“The ongoing recession has cost millions of Americans their jobs, but for some it's hitting even closer to home. Planned Parenthood and other family planning clinics are seeing more patients in their waiting rooms.
These clinics generally serve young women between the ages of 18 and 24. But now, older clients — and many without insurance — are coming in. Some are looking for help supporting the children they have. Others are afraid of raising a child they say they can't afford.)" – NPR’s “All Things Considered,” 3/17/09.