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Archive for the ‘K-12’ Category

In quotes: Geoffrey Canada on investing in pre-K

Posted in Funding, K-12, National, Pre-kindergarten, Quotes, Strategies for Children on September 20, 2019| 1 Comment »

On Tuesday, September 10, 2019, Geoffrey Canada, president of the Harlem Children’s Zone, was the Stone Social Impact Forum speaker at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate.

In the audience were Amy O’Leary, the director of Strategies for Children’s Early Education for All Campaign, and Titus DosRemedios, Strategies’ director of research and policy.

Amy asked Canada about investing in early education. Here’s an edited version of their exchange.

Amy: “What is it going to take for us to change our priorities and invest more earlier to get the bigger outcome later?”

Canada: “The science on this is really clear, [but] we’ve got science that is not driving policy, and I think this is going to be another one of these movements. It’s one of the reasons that we are trying to advocate for comprehensive, cradle to career [approaches], which does not mean pre-K to career. It means cradle to career.

“The science on this stuff is really clear, what happens to those young brains when kids are six months, one year. And if you’re in communities where people don’t know how to stimulate those brains appropriately, that’s going to put that kid at a disadvantage. So the question is: What is it going to take? It’s going to take us not giving up. (more…)

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Leading the Way: Chrissy Howard, Springfield’s new champion of childhood literacy

Posted in K-12, Literacy, Massachusetts Cities and Towns on September 10, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Chrissy Howard, the new manager of Reading Success by 4^th Grade, sums up her job with a question:

“How can I use any resource I have to help other people get what they need?”

For Howard this a tactical issue and a matter of social justice.

Launched by the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation, Reading Success by 4^th Grade has engaged the Springfield, Mass., community in the work of helping children become proficient readers by the end of third grade. The organization was led by Sally Fuller, who recently retired.

Howard joined the organization this summer just as it had found a new home at the Springfield Public Library.

“My job is to continue to bring people together and move the work forward,” Howard says. To do this, she has embarked on a listening tour where she has heard about what people need, want, and love as well as “what they found a little difficult; what challenges they’ve overcome, and how they did it together.” (more…)

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In quotes: Boston helps kindergarteners save for college

Posted in Boston, K-12 on September 6, 2019| Leave a Comment »

”We’re scaling up Boston Saves to enroll every BPS [Boston Public Schools] kindergartener in a Child Savings Account. This expansion follows a successful pilot program. All of our kindergarteners will be automatically set up with a savings account for college or career training. To get the ball rolling, we deposit $50 in each account. We’ll offer families educational resources and online tools to help them save along the way. This is one way we are bridging wealth gaps and building financial empowerment in our communities.”

— Boston Mayor Marty Walsh in a message to his city’s students, families, teachers, and staff, Thursday, September 5, 2019

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Oregon invests $2 billion in education – and early education

Posted in Business and economy, Funding, K-12, National, Pre-kindergarten, Strategies for Children on May 28, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Today marks a turning point for education in Oregon. I am proud to celebrate the signing of the Student Success Act, and proud to say that now we can finally invest in an education system to empower every single student on the path to realizing their dreams for the future. pic.twitter.com/ibqPruWxpl

— Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) May 20, 2019

Oregon has scored a huge victory for its children — and set an example that other states should study – by enacting the Student Success Act, which will invest $2 billion in education, with 20 percent ($400 million) allocated for early education.

“…now we can finally invest in an education system to empower every single student on the path to realizing their dreams for the future,” Oregon Governor Kate Brown said in a Tweet.

To finance this investment, Oregon will create a tax “on businesses that bring in at least $1 million in sales each year. They’d pay $250 and a point-five-seven-percent 0.57% tax. According to the Legislative Revenue Office in the capital, less than 10% of Oregon’s 460,000 businesses would pay the tax,” KOBI-TV reports.

This historic work is “the culmination of a legislative process that began more than a year ago when the Joint Committee On Student Success toured the state to learn more about what kids in Oregon need to succeed,” according to the Children’s Institute, a nonprofit organization founded by philanthropists and business community members.

“At every stop along the way, the message was clear: K–12 can’t do it alone. If we want to improve outcomes for Oregon’s students, we must start by supporting the health and development of young children before they reach kindergarten.” (more…)

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Researchers look at how Head Start aligns with elementary schools

Posted in Family engagement, Head Start, K-12, Pre-K to 3, Research, Strategies for Children on April 30, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Kate Samp for Strategies for Children

Cities like Somerville work hard to boost children’s outcomes by making sure that preschool educators communicate with elementary school teachers.

Now a new research study points to some of the benefits of this approach.

The study – “Who benefits? Head start directors’ views of coordination with elementary schools to support the transition to kindergarten” – analyzes interviews of 16 Head Start directors.

The study found “numerous ways in which Head Start directors coordinate with elementary schools to share information about individual children and program practices,” according to the abstract.

This analysis “revealed that coordination may benefit children indirectly through both improved teaching practices, increased alignment and parent supports. Findings indicate the need for additional research to explore indirect links between coordination and children’s success.” (more…)

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Massachusetts legislators hold a historic hearing on education funding

Posted in K-12, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Massachusetts Cities and Towns, Pre-K to 3 on March 27, 2019| 1 Comment »

Screenshot: Representative Alice Peisch’s Twitter page

On Friday, a large and diverse crowd – that included Governor Charlie Baker, New England Patriot football players, mayors, educators, parents, students, and legislators – gathered at the State House for an important hearing on education funding.

At the heart of the hearing were calls to update Chapter 70, the funding formula that calculates how much state funding Massachusetts public schools receive. The funding formula was put into place in 1993, and has not been updated in 26 years. In 2015, guidance for overhauling Chapter 70 was released in a report written by the Foundation Budget Review Commission, which was co-chaired by Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz (D-Boston), who was then a co-chair of the Joint Committee on Education, and by Representative Alice H. Peisch (D-Wellesley), House Chair of the Joint Committee on Education. (more…)

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A call for K-12 and early education to stand and work together

Posted in Boston, K-12, National, Pre-kindergarten on February 14, 2019| 1 Comment »

How can K-12 education be improved?

Answers are being hotly debated. But according to a new report, too many people are overlooking a promising answer: K-12 should embrace early education.

“For years, the K–12 world has fundamentally underappreciated how the early years shape long-term educational outcomes,” the report — “Why The K-12 World hasn’t Embraced Early Learning” — explains.

Elliot Regenstein, a partner at the national education law firm Foresight Law and Policy, and the report’s author says:

“The goal of the paper is to provoke some much-needed conversation about strengthening the connection between K-12 and early learning. Massachusetts has always been a leader in education policy, and I hope it will be helpful to the state as it considers ways to continue improving its outcomes.”

In the report, Regenstein notes that there is good will to build on. (more…)

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Governor Baker’s FY20 budget proposal

Posted in Child care, K-12, MA governor, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten on January 24, 2019| 5 Comments »

On Wednesday, January 23, 2019, Governor Charlie Baker released a $42.7 billion state budget for fiscal year 2020. The governor’s budget includes a $200 million increase in Chapter 70 state aid for K-12 public education. This is part of a larger proposal to overhaul the state funding formula.

Funding for early education and care would continue to increase under Governor Baker’s proposal, which includes increases for Supportive and TANF child care (line item 3000-3060) as well as for Quality Improvement (3000-1020). The Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative (3000-6025) was reduced from $5 million in FY19 to $2.5 million. And an early educator salary rate reserve (3000-1042) was not included in the governor’s proposal.

For a complete list of early education line items, please go to our budget page.

To learn more about the history of state funding for early education from FY09 to the present, check out our funding trends chart.

Stay tuned for advocacy opportunities. And contact Titus DosRemedios for more budget information at tdosremedios@strategiesforchildren.org or (617) 330-7387.

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In quotes: excerpts from Governor Charlie Baker’s Inaugural Address, January 3, 2019

Posted in K-12, MA governor, MA Legislature, MA state budget, Pre-kindergarten, Quotes on January 11, 2019| Leave a Comment »

“…in this era of snapchats, tweets, Facebook and Instagram posts, putdowns and smack-downs, I’d ask you all to remember that good public policy is about perseverance and collaboration.

“Many times, it is a story written frame by frame by many players who write it over time, relentlessly pursuing an objective.”

“We doubled the earned income tax credit for 450,000 low income working families, invested over $100 million in new funding into our early education system and reduced the use of hotels and motels to shelter homeless families by over 95%.”

“Twenty-five years ago, Massachusetts wasn’t a national leader in public education.

“Since then, we’ve achieved remarkable success by working together on a series of education reforms. As a result, Massachusetts students have scored number one on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams in English and math for much of the past decade. And last year finished first on the Advanced Placement exams as well.

“But when it comes to the difference in performance between urban and suburban school districts, we can and must do better.”

“Transcript: Gov. Baker’s Inaugural Address For His 2nd Term,” WBUR, January 3, 2019