Recently in Early Childhood Education Category

Source: Pre-K Now, 2010

* Governors propose a slight increase to state pre-k investments. Should these budgets pass, state early education funding would rise by $8.2 million.
* Nine governors increase pre-k investments. These proposals would increase funding for early learning in these states by a total of $78.5 million.
* Three other states and the District of Columbia anticipate an increase for pre-k through their school funding formulas. In nine states and the District, early education budgets are supported through school funding formulas and grow with enrollment. The other six states do not yet have projections for FY11.
* Ten governors propose to flat fund pre-k. These proposals maintain funding for early learning in these states at FY10 levels and include Alaska and Rhode Island, which both started new programs in FY10.
* Twelve governors are proposing to decrease pre-k funding. In these states, early learning investments would decline by a total of $100.6 million.
* Ten states provide no state-funded pre-k.

Source: W. Steven Barnett, Dale J. Epstein, Allison H. Friedman, Rachel Sansanelli, Jason T. Hustedt, National Institute for Early Education Research, May 2010

From the summary:
The 2009 State Preschool Yearbook is the seventh in a series of annual reports profiling state-funded prekindergarten programs in the United States. This latest Yearbook presents data on state-funded prekindergarten during the 2008-2009 school year. The first report in this series focused on programs for the 2001-2002 school year and established a baseline against which we may now measure progress over eight years. Tracking these trends is essential, since changes in states' policies on preschool education will influence how successfully America's next generation will compete in the knowledge economy.
See also:
- Executive Summary
- Table of Contents
- State Data
- Interactive Database
- Charts

Related:
2009 Snapshot of Preschool Programs, State by State, Shows Losses and Gains
Source: Lisa Guernsey, New America Foundation,, Early Ed Watch, May 5, 2010

Source: Lisa Guernsey, New America Foundation, April 19, 2010

From the summary:
Every three years, every Head Start program in the country must undergo a top-to-bottom review from federal monitors in regional Head Start offices who examine files, observe classrooms and interview parents. The process, known as the triennial review, typically takes a week and can be a nerve-wracking moment for grantees who worry whether they will be deemed "out of compliance" with federal regulations.

For this podcast, we talked with Karen Hughes, president and chief executive officer of The Campagna Center, a non-profit organization in Alexandria, Va., that runs the city's Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Last year, Hughes invited Early Ed Watch to witness her organization go through its review -- a week that showed us just how many regulations these programs must observe and document on a daily basis. We thought our listeners could learn from Hughes as well as she talks about why these reviews matter for quality control and what they mean to Head Start programs.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, 2010

The 45th in a series of publications initiated in 1962, the Digest's primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest contains data on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, and federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons.

Source: Education Commission of the States, 2010

The following summary includes policies enacted in 2010. Summaries are collected from state Web sites, state newsletters, StateNet, LexisNexis and Westlaw. Descriptions often reflect the content of bills as introduced and may not reflect changes made during the legislative process. To assure that this information reaches you in a timely manner, minimal attention has been paid to style (capitalization, punctuation) or format. To view the documents, click on the blue triangle next to the topic of interest. To view all, press the button located at the top labeled "Expand All."

Source: Mark Ginsberg, and Rae Pica With Marcy Whitebook, NAEYC Radio, February 2010

From the press release:
In this segment, Dr. Whitebook says that most child care professionals make less than parking lot attendants. In fact, on average child care providers make about $15,000-$20,000 a year depending on where they live and what age group they care for. Dr. Whitebook says the reason for such low pay is that the United States never placed the same value on early childhood education as it has for the rest of the K-12 spectrum. While she says some attitudes have changed some, especially based on research of brain development in the early years, attitudes haven't changed enough to make a significant impact on wages.
See also:
Animal Trainer. Parking Attendant. Child Care Professional.
Source: Lisa Guernsey, Early Ed Watch Blog, February 17, 2010

Source: New America Foundation, Federal Education Budget Project, Issue Brief, February 2010

The president's 2011 budget request marks the second time the Obama administration has submitted funding recommendations for every federal education program and a comprehensive list of new education policy initiatives. The administration has proposed a $49.7 billion budget for education programs subject to the annual appropriations process (excluding Pell Grants), up from $46.2 billion in fiscal year 2010. This issue brief provides a summary and analysis of the president's fiscal year 2011 education budget request.

Source: National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, January 2010

In 2008, America's children saw the nation's financial system melt down and the worst recession in decades commence. In 2009, the nation's children paid the price. At least 42 states have cut public health, programs for children with disabilities, K-12 and early education, and higher education. Next year doesn't look any better with states needing to close as much as $260 billion dollars in budget deficits.

Congress will need to make investments in children's programs a priority in both the jobs bill and the 2011 federal budget if children's programs are not to be cut further.

This is grim news for America's children. They make up more than 35 percent of those in
poverty, yet they comprise only 24.6 percent of the population. Children did not cause the
recession, but they certainly are feeling the effects of it. States cut the most basic of services
for children this year with deeper cuts on the horizon for next year. This report includes an illustrative list of state-by-state budget cuts affecting children.

Source: Sara Mead, New America Foundation, Updated Jan 2009

From the blog:
In November, Early Ed Watch's Sara Mead gave a presentation at a Harvard Graduate School of Education PreK-3rd Institute that offers a good primer on federal policy climate for PreK-3rd reforms. The presentation, Federal Context & Funding Opportunities for PreK-3rd, provides a comprehensive overview of the federal funding streams that states, schools, and ECE providers can use to support PreK-3rd work. It also outlines the recent and upcoming federal policy developments that should create potential opportunities for PreK-3rd reformers. Since November, we've made a few updates to keep it current and just published it on our program page. Take a look!

Source: Julie Poppe, State Legislatures, Vol. 36 no. 1, January 2010

Lawmakers are sold on the importance of early learning programs. Now they're figuring out how to pay for them.