Pre-K

We've noticed that several early childhood sites have jumped into radio and podcasting recently. You can now download or stream programs that focus on everything from raising a self-motivated child to how childcare providers are navigating through turbulent times.

Just before closing out their biennial legislative session, the Texas legislature passed new pre-k quality enhancement legislation that pre-k advocates have been pushing for in the state.

Yesterday we wrote about how private organizations in Minnesota -- namely business groups and non-profit foundations -- have spearheaded a campaign for more public investment in early education in the state. In addition to advocating for policy, several non-profit organizations actively operate or finance programs to improve children's school readiness and overall well-being.

June 23 is the deadline for Head Start programs to submit applications to the Department of Health and Human Services if they want to use stimulus funds to expand their programs and serve more children.

Public-private partnerships are very common in early education, but what does the "private" half of these important relationships look like? Today and tomorrow, we take a look at Minnesota, a state where the private sector -- including businesses and non-profit foundations -- has assumed a prominent role in advocating for early education policy. Tomorrow we examine how the private sector can help shape what that policy might look like.

One day my youngest daughter, Gillian, came home from preschool telling a glorious tale. Her class of 4-year-olds had baked a giant gingerbread man, but he escaped from the school's oven. He left crumbs in the hallway and couldn't be found in the stairwell. "Everybody gathered up together and put raisins on the floor and made a trap," she told me. It worked: "We ate him all up."

We've been hearing the last few weeks about growing opposition to the administration's proposals to set aside $500 million in Title I funds to provide incentive grants to school districts that use new Title I funds they received under the stimulus to invest in pre-k. We're not surprised.

Here at Early Ed Watch, we spend a lot of digital ink writing about "PreK-3^rd alignment." But what exactly are we talking about? I explain in this short video (7 mins) with help from Dr. Jerry Weast, Superintendent of Montgomery County Schools in Maryland, which is home to one of the country's most successful PreK-3rd reform efforts.

Still thinking about how to spend your stimulus dollars? Earlier this spring, I visited an elementary school in Montgomery County that offers a great model to ensure the greatest academic bang for your ARRA buck. Hint: It has something to do with PreK-3rd Alignment. (See our video, released today, for more details.)

For the past two years, researchers at the RAND Corporation have been mapping the quality and availability of preschools in California, home to the nation's largest population of preschoolers.