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Reshaping the Structure of Early Education

Posted in College/career readiness, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, Developmentally appropriate practice, National, Pre-K to 3, Pre-kindergarten on September 14, 2015| 1 Comment »

Photo: Alessandra Hartkopf for Strategies for Children

It’s time for the entire country to remake early education.

“We need to reshape the primary years and re-envision the elementary school. The K-5 model starts too late and is usually disconnected from early care and education providers such as pre-K centers,” Laura Bornfreund and Lisa Guernsey wrote last week in a CNN opinion piece called “First day of kindergarten: A key transition.”

Bornfreund is the deputy director of the early education initiative at the nonprofit think tank New America, and Guernsey is the director of New America’s early education initiative and its Learning Technologies Project.

Zeroing in on that first day of kindergarten, Bornfreund and Guernsey point out that teachers often have very little information about the children who arrive in their classrooms.

“Which children have had the benefit of pre-K? Who has never held a book? How many know letters, recognize shapes, or can handle their emotions when a tower of blocks topples?” (more…)

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In Quotes: Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo

Posted in College/career readiness, Cost and affordability, K-12, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten, Quotes on February 13, 2015| Leave a Comment »

“Central to a healthy economy, now and in the future is an educated workforce. Building on the achievements of the Ed Reform law, now more than two decades old, there’s still work to be done.

“We have long recognized that education doesn’t start in elementary school and end at high school graduation: To that, I’m proud of our ongoing efforts to help make higher education more affordable for Massachusetts’ students and their families including our community colleges which are playing an ever increasing role in training the workers of tomorrow.

“In addition, we know the benefit of helping our youngest children. This session, we will devise our own plan to further provide early access to high quality programming for our youngest children. Not only is a renewed commitment to early education and care vital to the current economy by helping working parents– it’s vital to our children’s future.”

Robert DeLeo, Speaker of the Massachusetts House, in his address to the House of Representatives, February 11, 2015 (emphasis ours)

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The Rennie Center Looks at the Condition of Education in Massachusetts

Posted in Achievement gap, Boston, College/career readiness, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, Higher Education, K-12, MA state budget, Pre-K to 3, Pre-kindergarten, Reading proficiency, Research, Strategies for Children on January 28, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Andy Hargreaves, professor at Boston College’s Lynch School of Education. Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

“The moment is ripe for more deliberate action in the early childhood sphere in Massachusetts,” according to a new report from the Rennie Center, a nonprofit organization that focuses on education research and policy.

The annual report — “Condition of Education (COE) in the Commonwealth Report: Priority Actions for a Statewide Agenda” — includes a data report and a policy action guide. Several research and policy organizations, including Strategies for Children, served on the report’s advisory committee.

Rennie released the report at a standing-room-only event at the Omni Parker Hotel that brought together Jim Peyser, the state’s new secretary of education with the chairs of the Boards of the Departments of Early Education and Care; Elementary and Secondary Education; and Higher Education.

The report “highlights what works now,” Pendred Noyce, chair of Rennie’s board, said at the Omni Parker event, explaining that the report points to successful programs that could be replicated to improve educational outcomes across the state. (more…)

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In Quotes: Financial Leaders on Early Education

Posted in Business and economy, College/career readiness, National, Pre-kindergarten, Quotes on December 5, 2014| Leave a Comment »

“Since 2004, Federal Reserve leadership—the Chairman and leadership from the regional banks—have endorsed high-quality early childhood education as a key economic development strategy,” the national nonprofit ReadyNation explains in an inspiring collection of quotations, including:

“Gaps in skills that are important for adult outcomes are observable by age 5 and tend to persist into adulthood…It makes economic sense to concentrate intensive human capital investment in the form of formal schooling on the young: The earlier workers invest, the longer they have to profit from their investments.”

Jeffrey Lacker, President, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, “Investing in people as an economic growth strategy.” Washington Post, July 13, 2014

* * *

“Research increasingly has shown the importance for both individuals and the economy as a whole of both early childhood education as well as efforts to promote the lifelong acquisition of skills. The payoffs of early childhood programs can be especially high.”

Ben Bernanke, former Chair, Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System, (Bernanke is currently an economist at the Brookings Institution) in a speech presented to the Southern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments, Charleston, SC. Federal Reserve Board of Governors, August 2, 2010

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Computer Coding for Kindergarteners

Posted in College/career readiness, Curriculum, Pre-K to 3, Science & math on October 29, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

Reading, writing, arithmetic – and computer coding?

Coding is a crucial part of being literate, according to educators and employers who say that America’s students should learn how to code so they can participate in the high-tech economy.

When should children start? They’re already getting started in kindergarten. So we decided to take a look at news stories about how this trend is playing out in classrooms.

When adults code, they use a coding language such as Java or Python to write instructions for computers. Now researchers have come up with an easier way for children to code using images.

In the eSchool News article, “Coding with the Kindergarten Crowd,” Laura Devaney writes, “Introducing coding to kindergarten students helps them reflect on their own learning as they develop 21st-century skills such as problem solving and creativity, experts say.”

(more…)

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Students who Major in Early Childhood Education Have the Lowest Lifetime Earnings

Posted in College/career readiness, Early educators, National, Pre-kindergarten, Professional development & preparation, Reading proficiency on October 20, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alessandra Hartkopf for Strategies for Children

How much is a college degree worth? Quite a lot, for students who major in chemical engineering. Their median lifetime earnings are more than $2 million.

But the median lifetime earnings of students who major in early childhood education – about $770,000 — is less than that of any other college major including social work, theology, fine arts and elementary education.

This disappointing news comes from a report — “Major Decisions: What Graduates Learn Over Their Lifetimes” — released last month by the Hamilton Project, an economic policy initiative at the Brookings Institution.

“Drawing upon data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, we examine earnings for approximately 80 majors, focusing on both annual earnings for each year of the career and cumulative lifetime earnings,” the report explains.

Among the key findings:

“Majors that train students to work with children or provide counseling services tend to have graduates with the lowest earnings.” (more…)

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Timothy Bartik’s New Book on the Economic Payoff of Preschool

Posted in Achievement gap, Business and economy, Cognitive development, College/career readiness, Developmentally appropriate practice, Early educators, Funding, National, Pre-kindergarten, Research, Social-emotional development on September 23, 2014| 9 Comments »

Image: Courtesy of Tim Bartik

One of the most energizing reads of the fall season is Tim Bartik’s new book, “From Preschool to Prosperity: The Economic Payoff to Early Childhood Education.”

“Wouldn’t it be great if there was some feasible policy that could boost the American economy and enlarge opportunities for more of our children?” Bartik, a senior economist at the W.E. Upjohn Institute, asks on page one.

Well: “we’re in luck. Our economic future and our children’s future can be significantly improved by expanding high-quality early childhood education programs, such as pre-K education.”

“People should see themselves as part of a historic movement,” Bartik said of early education advocates in a recent interview. In the history of education, he explained, there was the common school movement, the high school movement, school desegregation — and now there’s the expansion of high-quality preschool programs. (more…)

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The Federal Reserve’s Long View of Early Childhood Education

Posted in Business and economy, College/career readiness, National, Pre-kindergarten on August 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

A recent article in the Washington Post calls for strengthening the economy by investing in workforce development — starting with high-quality early childhood education programs. Written by Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the piece builds on the Fed’s history of support for early childhood programs.

In the article — “Investing in people as an economic growth strategy”— Lacker focuses in part on the current and historically high long-term unemployment rate.

“Given the limitations of monetary policy, what can be done to improve labor market outcomes in the long run?” He asks.

“At the Richmond Fed, our research suggests that much of what we’re currently seeing in the labor market reflects structural trends rather than a primarily cyclical change in labor market behavior. That has prompted us to think about long-term strategies to prepare workers for the labor market.” (more…)

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A New Website Documents Massachusetts’ Emerging Policy Agenda for Birth through Grade Three

Posted in College/career readiness, Dept. of Early Education and Care, Dept. of Elementary and Secondary Education, MA governor, MA Legislature, Pre-K to 3 on July 17, 2014| 1 Comment »

Photo: Alyssa Haywoode for Strategies for Children

Massachusetts’ education agencies have collaborated on a new website – “Building the Foundation for College and Career Success for Children from Birth through Grade 3.” It’s a public resource that will share information on the state’s promising efforts to build a birth-through-grade-three policy agenda that will help children achieve success in school and later in life.

“By creating this agenda,” the website explains, “we will enhance the quality of educational and other services provided to children and families and also increase policy alignment and collaboration among our state education agencies – the Department of Early Education and Care, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Department of Higher Education.”

The birth-through-grade-three agenda will also “strengthen essential partnerships with educators, parents and families, local and state officials, legislators, community and business partners, and other members of the commonwealth,” enabling the state to make an even stronger commitment to its children. (more…)