Storms continue to hit Seattle – snow is now turning to rain – but developments in early education continue around the country.
In Congress, House Education Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., introduced the final two pieces of his plan to revise the No Child Left Behind Act, which governs federal K-12 policy, and there was not a lot for early learning, Early Ed Watch reports.
Early education does not get the same boost it did in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee’s ESEA bill (and we’d argue that even there, early ed still isn’t given enough due). In fact, early education (birth – pre-K) is barely mentioned at all in the House bills and when it is, it’s to simply maintain what was in place. As far as we can tell neither bill adds any new references to early education.
-- “House Bill for ESEA Includes Glaring Omissions on Early Ed Too.” 1/13/11.
Why does a K-12 bill matter to early education? The effort to rewrite No Child Left Behind is one of the best opportunities to improve early learning, as researchers, advocates and policymakers increasingly understand the connections between the first five years of life and the next 16.
Even though Early Ed Watch says this education reform effort is unlikely to go anywhere in a presidential election year, ideas matter. If a connection to early education is to be part of an eventual reform of No Child Left Behind, it should be consistently part of proposals and debates now.
Check out Early Ed’s story for a good overview of what the new K-12 bills would do.
Quick Media Hits
Pre-K and the Race to the Top: Sara Mead writes about how the “Early Learning Challenge is NOT About Pre-K” on her Education Week blog.
…Having a high percentage of students in state pre-k didn't translate to high ELC scores. That's not really surprising: Like I said, ELC is about systems-building and childcare quality more than pre-k, and there weren't very many places where having a lot of kids in pre-k could translate into additional points.
-- Sara Mead’s Policy Notebook, 1/18/12.
Thoughts on Washington’s Race to the Top: You can listen to one of the nation’s leading experts on early learning talk about Washington state’s new Race to the Top Early Learning grant on NPR, “Will $60 Million For Early Learning Help Close The Achievement Gap?”