Preschool Education News
A Current EdLog™ News Strand

Welcome to Designed Instruction's news strand on preschool education, from EdLog™! We see more preschool changes—and more talk of positive changes—with every passing year. The article links below will help you to keep track of some of these changes as the attention to quality preschool education continues to grow. Postings are in chronological order, starting with the most recent.

Wii for basic math skills
Nintendo's Wii, with games such as “Perfect 10”, finds itself becoming a part of at least one Alabama school’s technology day. Through the games, Kindergarten students learn how to count and add, among other things, and because they are so common at home, their use at schools becomes a natural... The Gadsden Times (Ala.) (1/21/11)

Push to bring back play continues
The Ultimate Block Party and a conference on outdoor play are part of the efforts in a renewed campaign to reintroduce low structure, conventional play which, according to expert educators as well as scientists and psychologists, cultivates social and intellectual skills in young children... The New York Times (1/5/11)

Learn about the benefits of infusing play into the everyday learning activities of young children. Check out Designed Instruction's article "Play With Me!"

How important is play?
Some, such as Erika Christakis, early childhood educator, and Nicholas Christakis, Harvard medicine and sociology professor, believe it may be a key to ensuring children’s success in college and later in life. According to the authors, play helps children develop empathy, learn to manage conflict, control impulsive behavior, and solve everyday problems, all necessary life skills... CNN (12/29/10)

A good investment: Early childhood education
The nonprofit group Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California issues a report claiming that every $1 dollar spent on early childhood education can result in as much as $16 in long-term cost savings for special education and crime... Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.) (9/8/10)

"Redshirting" kindergartners
One would think after all the all the early childhood learning parents would be anxious to see their children off to an early start. The opposite trend, however, seems to be taking hold in many areas. Citing a study that found that the strongest hockey players were the oldest, one parent said, "If he's older, he'll have the strongest chance to do the best." Oh my... The New York Times (8/20/10)

Should education policies focus more on early learning?
According to Lisa Guernsey, Director of the Early Education Initiative at the New America Foundation, the answer is "yes." In this opinion post, Guernsey contends that the foundation for lifelong learning is well established by the time children are 8, and shows research to back up her contention... The Washington Post/The Answer Sheet (8/2/10)

Take a storywalk
What are storywalks and how are they being used to get preschoolers excited about reading and learning? Find out about this Pennsylvania preschool's Storywalk program in which preschool-aged children read stories involving people in certain professions while "heroes" (e.g., a police officer, school nurse. Etc.) stand by to answer their questions about those professions... Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (11/12/09)

The economic worth of a kindergarten teacher
A long-term study has shown that students who had the best kindergarten teachers went to college in higher numbers and earned higher pay later in life. Based on the higher earnings for one average class of students, researchers have calculated the worth of a good kindergarten teacher to be as much as $320,000 a year... The New York Times (7/27/10)

Publishers go for piece of the pie
Nearly a dozen publishers are trying to win approval to provide classroom materials for Texas prekindergarten students following the state's allocation of $48.5 million for the first Pre-K material update in nearly a decade. A state review panel will meet this summer to select new materials by November. The new materials will appear in the classroom in the 2011-12 school year... Houston Chronicle (5/2/10)

iPads for special-needs kindergarten students
Thanks to a $500 mini-grant from the Southington Education Foundation, special-needs kindergarten students will soon be using iPads loaded with literacy software at a Connecticut elementary school. Why the iPad? According to one teacher, the iPad was chosen for its large screen and display projector... The Bristol Press (Conn.) (6/13/10)

College degrees for preschool teachers
Officials in Massachusetts want preschool teachers who work in private preschool programs to have bachelor's degrees. They believe the degrees will help them to better handle the academic curriculum, narrow the achievement gap, and more properly identify learning disabilities and developmental delays in students... The Boston Globe (6/10/10)

22% in poverty
According to a report from the Foundation for Child Development, 22% of U.S. children will live in poverty this year. It is the highest rate in two decades... The Hechinger Report, Columbia University (6/8/10)

Admitting a lack of national coordination in early childhood education efforts
Its importance has been noted and recognized nationally, and it has been included Obama administration's plans for education reform. Yet national experts (including Jacqueline Jones, the senior adviser for early learning at the Department of Education), admit that when it comes to a "coordinated system of early care and education, we don't have that..." The Times-Picayune (New Orleans) (6/3/10)

Age requirement to start kindergarten on the increase?
At least in California, this may wind up being exactly the case. The CA Senate has passed a measure to move the cutoff so that children must be five years old by September 1 in order to begin school that year. That date is currently December 1. The next stop for the proposal is in the CA state Assembly. Read what both supporters and opponents of the bill are saying... Los Angeles Times/L.A. Now blog (6/2/10)

Forest preschools?
Young students' curiosity drives the curriculum at Cedarsong Nature School in the state of Washington. It's an interesting setting and way of learning at the school, one that originated in Europe. It's called "forest kindergarten." Read on... Google/The Associated Press (5/24/10)

Test preparation for a five-year-old?
Some private schools have been using the results of standardized intelligence tests to determine admission of four- and five-year-olds, but now are expressing concern that test preparation is skewing results. Though the Education Records Bureau, the group that administers the test, has posted a 26-page test preparation booklet online, the group maintains that the preparation has had no effect... The New York Times (5/6/10)

Keeping the focus on play
Play is still the primary road to learning for young children ages 3-6 at the Tucson Community School in Arizona. In existence since 1948, the school still requires parents to volunteer at the school, and yes, the children still spend the largest part of their day hard at play. The advantage? You've heard it before here at Designed Instruction. When they get into elementary school, "our students are able to figure things out," one of the school's teachers said... Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) (5/3/10)

Study shows positive effects of preschool in LA
A study of students who attended the Los Angeles Universal Preschool, a taxpayer-funded program that serves over 10,000 children, reveals gains in social and emotional skills as well as kindergarten readiness. The highest gains appeared with English-language learners... Los Angeles Times (4/19/10)

State of the Union Address 2010
Read about President Obama's State of the Union Address (January 27, 2010), where he feels we presently stand in the area of education, and what may be in store in the future... Designed Instruction's EdLog™ Announcements (1/28/10)

Preschool saves money
The things we do can be costly. But when what we do affects what children become, our lack of action can be far more costly. Read about how 25 years of preschool in Michigan has saved taxpayers over a billion dollars... Detroit Free Press/Lansing Bureau (1/25/10)

Early literacy funding changes
Funding for K-3 literacy is restored, but rolled into the adolescent reading program Striving Readers, so that the funds are spread across the spectrum from preschool through grade 12. This includes Early Reading First, as well as Reading First, from which funding had been removed in 2009. Head Start, the federal program that serves just under a million preschoolers, receives a modest increase, and IDEA Preschool and Infants and Toddlers (Part C) and Childcare and Development Block Grant appropriations are maintained at 2009 levels. Also maintained at 2009 levels are Title I funds, and though the Early Childhood Grants and the Early Learning Challenge Funds are not specifically funded, the latter is rolled into the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA) and so will now likely receive mandatory funding on a yearly basis. Get the funding breakdowns and details, including how ARRA funding plays into the equation... Early Ed Watch (12/15/09)

Take a storywalk
What are storywalks and how are they being used to get preschoolers excited about reading and learning? Find out about this Pennsylvania preschool's Storywalk program in which preschool-aged children read stories involving people in certain professions while "heroes" (e.g., a police officer, school nurse. Etc.) stand by to answer their questions about those professions... Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (11/12/09)

Report calls effectiveness of pre-K into question
A report released Thursday shows the effectiveness of Tennessee's prekindergarten program diminishes after the second grade, according to the comptrollerÕs office. Comptroller Justin Wilson and other Republicans have been skeptical of the program since its inception. Senate Republicans had previously suggested drawing $22 million of pre-K funding from lottery reserves. House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada of Franklin said the report reaffirms his beliefs. Democrats, however, have criticized the move as a first step toward scaling back or ultimately killing the program targeted at 4-year-olds from poor families... Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tenn.)/The Associated Press (10/29/09)

Guidelines set on kindergarten readiness
Read on about Rhode Island's progress... The Providence Journal (R.I.) (10/20/09)

Kindergarten -- because it's the law, soon anyway
Starting in 2011 children in Wisconsin will be required to complete kindergarten before they can start first grade. The bill passed the WI Legislature last month, and was just signed into law by Governor Jim Doyle. Supporters say the law is necessary to ensure that students who enroll in kindergarten actually attend class... The Wausau Daily Herald (Wis.)/The Associated Press) (10/6/09)

Technology use up in Florida preschools
In Florida preschools, some children as young as two are getting started with technology in the classroom. "It's almost expected for a child to come into kindergarten knowing the mechanics of the computer," said one Florida kindergarten teacher who herself takes classroom attendance on a SMART Board. Read on... Ocala Star-Banner (Fla.) (10/5/09)

Early Learning Challenge Fund is approved
Part of an $87 billion higher education bill that passed the House last week focuses on raising quality in the early learning and care programs serving children birth through age 5. The Early Learning Challenge Fund, to be jointly administered by the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, will channel $8 billion over eight years to states with plans to improve standards, training, and oversight of programs serving infants, toddlers and preschoolers. States qualify for grants by demonstrating that they have established or improved a "governance structure" for their networks of child care centers and prekindergarten programs, including quality standards; a curriculum appropriate for young children; a mechanism for reviewing programs and assigning quality ratings; minimum training requirements for providers; a plan for reaching out to parents; and a system for collecting data on children and families. Supporters of the initiative are numerous. Some have worked for some time to see its passage. In her desire to see progress, for instance, Professor Sharon Lynn Kagan (Teachers College) traced the history of American child care programs back to the early 19th century, then wrote a paper last year that advocated federal aid to states in building a more coherent and robust early childhood infrastructure. To these and many others, it's a dream come true... New York Times (9/19/09)

Preschool: A time to teach the building blocks of math?
The number of experts who claim that very young children can and should begin to lay a foundation in mathematics continues to rise. Many in fact claim that students' future math skills are based on early development of a basic comprehension of concepts such as counting, volume, and geometry... Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (8/30/09)

Testing Boot Camp
It's a concern to many. We know they need to touch and move and interact to learn, but the testing climate in schools today does not appear to allow us the leeway of letting kindergartners learn the way they learn best... The Boston Globe (8/30/09)

Less play, more math and reading: Is this good?
Recent studies show kindergarten students getting a little as little as 30 minutes of class time while math and reading. Some question the wisdom of this, claiming children can work very hard at play... The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah) (8/24/09)

Report calls for more emphasis in math A report from the National Research Council indicates that while many preschool teachers aren't comfortable with math, and most preschools don't adequately cover the subject, an additional focus on math may be just what is needed to help disadvantaged students and narrow the achievement gap. Researchers also provide recommendations for improving the preschool math curriculum and for revamping teacher training. Purchase or read online for free (July 2009)... Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity

$350 million New Jersey preschool expansion to be delayed
A $350 million expansion intended to provide preschool access to low-income 3- and 4-year-olds appears to be on hold until the economy permits forward movement. The delay is, hopefully of course, temporary. "When the economy changes, preschool will be at the top of the list, I'm sure," says the New Jersey Education Commissioner. Governor Corzine's preschool expansion plan, a major part of the new school funding law that won constitutional approval by the state Supreme Court last week, presently has no funds set aside for new classes in next year's recession-crunched budget... NorthJersey.com (Hackensack, N.J.) (6/1/09)

Head Start funding could mean "new start" for helping underprivileged children
The $2.1 billion invest in Head Start and Early Head Start could make a difference between the success and the demise of the decades-old, proven program for children from poverty-stricken families. The program has gone eight years without a funding increase, and only one year in which a cost-of-living increase was given, and that following a year in which it received a 10 percent cut... The Standard Speaker (PA) (2/19/09)

House votes to expand State Children's Health Insurance Program
The bill, passed by the House with a vote of 289 to 139, now heads to the Senate. If passed, it should raise the number of children in the program to around 11 million. Read on... Yahoo/Reuters (1/14/09)

Teaching preschoolers reading skills and getting along with others
A study funded by the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies shows that it's possible to teach preschoolers the pre-reading skills they need for later school success, while at the same time fostering the social skills necessary for making friends and avoiding conflicts with their peers. The findings address long-standing concerns about whether preschool education programs should emphasize academic achievement or social and emotional development... Science Daily (11-14-08)

Universal preschool students perform better
According to at least one study, performed by Georgetown University with 3,500 Oklahoma kindergartners, children who participate in preschool outscore those who do not attend preschool or participate in Head Start instead... USA TODAY (6/26/08)

New funding pushes preschool boom
Additional funding results in preschool enrollment increases of 63 percent in a ten-year period from 1995 to 2005. Where are the nation's 4-year-olds now? According to the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University, 25 percent are not in preschool, 35 percent are in private programs, and 40 percent are in public programs, including state pre-kindergarten, Head Start or special education... USA TODAY (5/12/08)

British preschool study shows no gains
According to a recent study involving 35,000 children in Britain, skills upon beginning formal schooling for children who had attended preschool were no higher than for those who did not... British Broadcasting Corporation (8/28/07)

Who gets to go?
The debate shifts from funding to questions of eligibility. Some want universal preschool while others wish to limit the eligibility to the most disadvantaged students... The Washington Post (8/22/07)

Virginia scales back plan
A lean budget results in a cut of an annual $300 million to $75 million as the state attempts to double the number of disadvantaged 4-year-olds enrolled in free preschool programs... The Washington Post (8/17/07)

Kindergarten beginning to resemble first grade
A push for the ability to read by first grade moves kindergarten classes away from its traditional role... The Washington Post (5/23/07)

Child care positively impacts later behavior
A research study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) indicates modest gains in behavior reported for sixth-grade students who had received child care when compared to those who had not. Parenting quality, however, still seems to be the key... The Washington Post/Associated Press (3/26/07)

Will Head Start testing end?
Amid concerns about developmental appropriateness, Congress may end standardized tests for preschool children in Head Start programs. Due to claims that the tests are needed for Head Start accountability, they have been administered each year since 2003... The Washington Post (3/18/07)

Mandatory full-day kindergarten in Maryland
Maryland has passed two new laws that require all kindergarten classes in the state to be full-day by 2007. However, we have yet to see if funding will be a problem... The Washington Times (10/30/06)

Florida PK: Hero to Zero
When it was first approved in 2002, the Florida pre-k system was hailed as a model for other states. Now, however, preschool advocates are naming Florida's program as the primary example of what not to do... Petersburg Times (Fla.) (10/25/06)

Redshirting your children—is it for you or for them?
You've doubtless seen a number of other parents who hold their child out of kindergarten for a year to give them a chance to mature. Are whatever advantages there may be, if any, shortlived? Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Herrin, Murphysboro)/Knight Ridder (3/16/06)

Statewide funding for at least half-day kindergarten debated in New Hampshire
New Hampshire stands alone as the only U.S. state that does not provide kindergarten for all its children. Read about the bill being considered by the state legislature to guarantee that in 2007 all districts will receive startup funding, including construction costs, for at least half-day programs. The question may be "What then?" The Boston Globe (1/19/06)

Is it bright?
Should 5-year-olds be writing descriptive sentences and drawing bar graphs? How about discussing Michelangelo's methods? Many say "no," but according to those running Duke University's "Bright IDEAS" program, sure thing... The Christian Science Monitor (12/8/05)

2005 shows largest nationwide increase in five years
Count'em -- twenty-six states increased preschool spending this legislative year by $600 million. The figure represents the largest single-year increase in five years. The result? Compared to 2004, over 180,000 additional children will attend early-education classes in 2005. Where does it now stand? Thirty-nine states offer either statewide preschool or at least various preschool programs for children in need... Stateline.org (11/16/05)

U.K. leads world in preschool spending
According to a report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the U.K. funding of preschool education is not just higher, but twice that of the average industrialized nation... BBC (9/13/05)

Play beats lessons?
The U.K. National Foundation for Educational Research claims less still and listening time and more active play equals more learning... BBC (4/18/05)

Tutoring your preschooler
Parents enrolling their children hope to help them get ahead on early academic requirements, while others say it does not help in the long run and could cause problems with children's self esteem... The Christian Science Monitor (4/5/05)

Would creating universal preschool in California be worth it?
Read a cost-benefit analysis from the RAND Corporation... Rand Press Release (Santa Monica, California) (3/30/05)

Massachusetts House makes preschool promise: Free for low-income families
A unanimous (153 to 0) budget amendment paves the way for free preschool for thousands of Massachusetts three- and four-year-olds. Hailed as historic, the amendment comes just three days after a superior court judge recommends that the state provide free preschool to children from low-income families in order to bridge inequalities between rich and poor school systems... The Boston Globe (Boston) (4-30-04)

Learning trend: Kindergarten becomes an all-day affair
As the importance of the early years of a child's learning experience becomes more recognized, schools and districts across the U.S. begin to consider the benefits of full-day kindergarten... The Christian Science Monitor (Boston) (1-29-04)

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