Photo: Kate Samp for Strategies for ChildrenIn a new report, “Early Warning Confirmed: A Research Update on Third-Grade Reading,” the Annie E. Casey Foundation follows up on its earlier research about the importance of promoting children’s reading proficiency by the end of third grade.

The foundation’s May 2010 report “Early Warning: Why Reading by the End of Third Grade Matters” explained “the research basis for focusing on reading proficiency by the third grade as an essential step toward increasing the number of children who succeed academically” and do well in their lives and careers. That report also launched the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, a national collaborative effort by foundations, nonprofit partners, states and communities to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career and active citizenship. This effort led to the creation of a network of national and local civic leaders, policymakers, advocates, community organizations and everyday people.

As the Obama Administration ramps up its push for expanded early childhood education access for all children, it’s important to ensure that preschool quality remains a big part of the conversation. Fortunately, there’s good news on this front from the University of Oregon’s Brain Development Lab.

On July 1, researchers Helen Neville, Courtney Stevens, Eric Pakulak, and several co-authors published an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that studied the effects of an eight-week “family-based training program designed to improve brain systems for selective attention in preschool children.” Their research, part of a longer project, showed that targeted parent training led to sustained improvements in student focus, better performance on language and IQ assessments and reductions in parental stress.

Read the story

Read the story

Levi Brothers, his mom, Misty Brothers, right, and his preschool teacher, Melia Minor, are photographed at Albertville Community Learning Center in Albertville, Ala., on June 30. (Photo: Jamie Brothers photo)When Misty Brothers enrolled her 5-year-old son, Levi, in pre-kindergarten last year, math and writing weren't the only skills he picked up. At his Albertville, Ala., preschool, Levi also learned classroom etiquette and how to work with other kids.

"It was a huge advantage," Brothers says. "I wish all kids had that benefit."

As Congress evaluates the Obama administration's plans for universal preschool, several states are already inching toward that goal.

Early Works Site Liaison - Yoncalla
Finance & Operations Assistant

Arne Duncan woke at 5:30 a.m. in his Arlington County home, was driven to the airport and folded his 6-foot-5 frame into an aisle seat in coach. The education secretary buckled his seat belt and tilted his head back for a short flight to Atlanta, another stop in his uphill effort to sell the Obama administration's next big idea: pre-kindergarten for every 4-year-old in the country.

The pitch on this day was to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican inclined toward the notion but dead-set against raising taxes to pay for it.

As governor, I am committed to investing in early childhood because I know that students who have opportunities for quality education early on are more successful in school, life and as contributors to Oregon's communities.

It doesn't matter if they're in Salem, Beaverton, Canyonville or Coos Bay — children who have regular learning opportunities at an early age will be better students, strengthen Oregon's workforce and stay out of the justice system.

Read the report | See the video

"Spread the word about President Obama's plan to provide high-quality preschool for every kid in America," twittered the White House on Wednesday. We all know that nothing on the planet compares to the awesome power of social media. But it may require more than a hashtag to bring this one home.

You may remember that earlier this spring, the president unveiled a budget plan that included a big initiative on early childhood education. Universal pre-K for 4-year-olds! More programs for low-income infants and toddlers! Big push for higher quality! And to help pay for it all, a new 94-cents-per-pack tax on cigarettes.

As this school year comes to an end, it is a time of celebration for many families and children; summer approaches as a time of respite before the new school year begins. But in Oregon, far too many children will show up on the first day of kindergarten already behind their peers. Many of them never catch up. In our state, only 66 percent of students graduate high school.

This has devastating consequences for the children themselves as well as our nation as a whole. Fortunately, it's clear what we need to do to: invest in high-quality early care and education in the years before kindergarten. And that's exactly what President Obama's Preschool for All early learning plan will do.

Watch a video | Read more

A new story is creating a buzz in the early learning world, "No Rich Child Left Behind," and it could finally push the education reform debate where it should have been all along: the first five years of life.

In the essay, Stanford University Professor Sean Reardon lays out a research-backed case that the achievement gap between low-income and rich students has grown substantially and that the problem isn't that "our schools are in decline."

If not the usual suspects, what's going on? It boils down to this: The academic gap is widening because rich students are increasingly entering kindergarten much better prepared to succeed in school than middle-class students. —The New York Times. 4/27/13.]]> kara@childinst.org (Kara Christenson) General Mon, 06 May 2013 17:13:51 +0000