It may be 2010, but I have to highlight one of the bigger developments of 2009, which occurred when the U.S. Education Department added early learning incentives to its $4 billion education reform act.
When the agency released final rules for Race to the Top – the large investment in K-12 education reform passed as part of the 2009 economic stimulus package – in November the only addition was "Innovations for Improving Early Learning Outcomes," according to Pre-K Now, one of the groups lobbying for the change.
Essentially, the move means early learning innovation is something the department is “particularly interested in,” though these efforts won’t give states extra points in the competition for grants. It also means Pre-K Now, the Buffet Early Childhood Fund and others had some success arguing that the K-12 reform effort should include pre-kindergarten.
“In our opinion, the Race to the Top guidance misses a central opportunity to embed early learning into the Administration’s education reform agenda,” advocates for the change wrote in a letter to Education Secretary Arne Duncan. “Most research allocates at least one-third or more of the achievement gap to lost early learning opportunities. And, a high-quality early learning experience for the nation’s most vulnerable children is a more effective and efficient means of preventing and closing the achievement gap before kindergarten than any subsequent education intervention.”
The letter also makes interesting reading for those working on education policy. For example, it links the enacted Race to the Top with the Early Learning Challenge Fund bill, which remains stuck in Congress.
“In short, our schools need a strong bridge between the Race to the Top and an Early Learning Challenge Fund. These two reform initiatives cannot sit side by side, but must be articulated and integrated to achieve their intended effect.”
This marriage would get 2010 off to a good start.
News and Notes:
EarlyStories has a great item about a program where early learning in a “Texas district starts at birth.”