Last month, I wrote about a report that showed a declining percentage of Latino children attend preschool. This week there is a growing focus on the issue.
To refresh your memory, 48 percent of Latino four-year-olds attended preschool in 2009, an apparent drop from 2005, and far lower than the nearly 70 percent of white children the same age in school in 2009, University of California, Berkeley researchers reported in April.
This week, the blogosphere and research world are buzzing with new work on why this matters. The National Institute for Early Education Research has an interesting story that asks: “Are Hispanic Children Losing Out in Preschool?”
The 2010 Census may show dramatic growth among the Hispanic population of children nationwide, but state-funded pre-K programs are not showing the same growth. The Yearbook does not collect information on enrollment by ethnicity or race, but data on programs in major Hispanic states is not encouraging. Arizona, which has one of the largest Hispanic populations in the nation, has cut its pre-K program entirely for the 2010-2011 school year, and shows no signs of reviving it. Cuts to early education have been proposed in at least seven states with among the largest Hispanic populations: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. – National Institute for Early Education Research, 5/16/11.
Over at Early Ed Watch today, Maggie Severns weighs in on “Why Ignoring the Immigrant Youth Population is a Mistake.”
The story looks at a special edition of the Future of Children journal entitled “Immigrant Children.”
One finding:
As the aging “baby boomer” population leaves the workforce, immigrants and their children will provide almost all growth in the young adult population.
Check out Early Ed Watch’s story and the journal stories, which are free.
I am featuring these articles because the changing demographics of U.S. families will be one of the biggest topics in early learning in the coming years. I may not have many answers, but I‘ll post new resources and analysis.
Parents are Key to Teaching Children: Leading early education researcher and author Ellen Galinsky offers a middle ground in the debate between drill-and-test-based learning and play-based education. Not surprisingly, the road is built by parents.