California is one of the nation’s largest states and it is struggling with some of the country’s biggest early learning challenges, according to a new report.
The New America Foundation analysis blends tough criticism – fourth grade reading scores in California were lower than anywhere but Mississippi and Louisiana – with promising evidence of progress, such as local efforts to improve early learning and integrate it with the first elementary grades.
In fact, the report’s title contains the foundation’s top recommendation: “On the Cusp in California How PreK-3rd Strategies Could Improve Education in the Golden State.”
A small but growing number of counties, school districts, and charter schools across the state are making progress to build seamless PreK-3rd early education systems. Even in the current climate, advocates and policymakers are taking steps that lay the groundwork for a more robust PreK-3rd system in the future. – Summary, “On the Cusp in California.” As we peer into the California crystal ball, the forecast for a well-educated population doesn't look too good. This report on the state's early education system offers a dark assessment, but not a fatalistic one, especially if leaders can seize and build on reform efforts that have already started in patches throughout the state.
The report does not simply criticize. It offers leaders 13 recommendations on how to improve California’s early learning network, such as finding new revenue to ensure pre-k funds are in line with K-12 and expanding successful relationships between early childhood education and school districts. This idea sounds a lot like what Washington’s Department of Early Learning chief Bette Hyde did in Bellingham.
In fact, the tough assessment of California’s early ed efforts makes Washington look good. The Evergreen state is already working on a comprehensive early learning strategy and is home to a governor who not only believes in the issue but leads key policymaking initiatives. Then in August, state education leaders agreed to develop a system that spans birth to age eight.And Washington is already implementing one of my favorite recommendations in the report, letting local ideas “trickle up” to a statewide level. In White Center, for example, experts are developing a child care quality rating system that could be expanded statewide.
Fading Pre-K Tennessee Benefits Take Two: The National Institute for Early Education Research suggests flaws in the recent analysis that found measurable benefits from Tennessee’s Pre-K program fade by second grade in “How the Fade-out Myth Gets Perpetuated.”
“My own take is that just like the last report on this evaluation, this one provides clear evidence that the analyses have not been able to overcome serious design problems including selection bias.” NIEER co-director Steve Barnett.
Check out the full analysis here.