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Head Start, the largest federally funded program for children under 5, has been around for nearly 45 years. Given the Obama Administration's interest in using federal funding to support young children, one might think that Head Start was poised to enter one of its most expansive periods ever. But there are several huge unanswered questions about Head Start's future -- from how it should be coordinated with state-funded pre-K programs to whether it should put even more of its energies toward serving children younger than 3.
Our seven-part blog series explains how Head Start has changed over the years and considers where it may be headed. It is also available as a downloadable PDF, which includes the transcript from a public web chat on this topic hosted by Politico.com.
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So what exactly Is PreK-3rd? Learn more in this short video (7 min) that makes the case for comprehensive reforms that begin with high-quality early childhood education programs and build on the benefits of those programs through the elementary school years and beyond.
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The Case for Investing in PreK-3rd Education: Challenging Myths about School Reform, by Rima Shore
PreK-3rd: What Is The Price Tag? by Rima Shore
Promoting a Pre-K to Three Vision for Early Learning, The State Education Standard
Building Blocks, by Gene I. Maeroff
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- National Association for the Education of YoungChildren
- National Early Childhood Accountability Task Force
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- National Institute for Early Education Research
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What's Missing from National Journal's New Education Blog?
National Journal, one of the most important sources of policy and politics journalism for D.C. insiders, just launched a new education blog featuring dozens of education policy experts, D.C. education policy insiders, and even a few elected officials(!). Good stuff. National Journal has long offered really excellent--if unfortunately difficult for most ordinary folks to access--coverage of education policy issues and the political debate around them in Washington.
Just one thing's missing--none of the blog's current, long list of contributors focuses on early childhood education. Only Checker Finn has written extensively on the subject. Not surprisingly, the contributors are primarily K-12 experts, but the blog also includes some very strong higher education voices--including ACE's Terry Hartle and NAF's own MaryEllen McGuire and Michael Dannenberg. Not so for early childhood. Considering that the Obama administration has proposed significant new early education initiatives, this seems like a major oversight.
Our concern is not with National Journal's blog, but with how early education issues are often treated by media outlets. Mainstream outlets tend to treat early childhood education as a sub-component of the lifestyle/parenting/mommy wars/let's-debate-feminism genre, while more policy-oriented outlets tend to view it from a childcare or even welfare reform lens, not as an element in a broader education policy debate around how best to narrow achievement gaps and improve learning for all kids. And certainly not as an important political and policy issue deserving serious coverage and respect in its own right. That leads to an impoverishment of our public and political discourse around both early childhood education and K-12 school reform.
If National Journal would like to add an early education expert's perspective to their blog, here are a few we'd recommend: Danielle Ewen, Libby Doggett, Cornelia Grumann, Sharon Lynn Kagan, David Kirp, Linda Smith.
More Missing Commentators at "The Nation"
1. Actual preK-12 teachers (check the EduBlog Award nominees or just google "education blogs")
2. Educational technology pundits (same, but add "technology")
I couldn't agree more about
I couldn't agree more about how the media treats early education. When I was a reporter at a metro newspaper, I was able to cover early learning as a major often A1 policy issue, but only after I shifted to the parenting beat. Given my background at Congressional Quarterly and covering Congress in general I treated it as a hard news story but elsewhere it is too often relegated to the lifestyle section.
National Journal Blog
Sarah, thank you for this blog. It was right on point. I wanted to urge you to stretch your list to include Dr. Tim Shanahan, University of Chicago, who was the chair of the National Early Literacy Panel, Developing Early Literacy, released January, 2009 in DC. Also I would add, Dr. Grover Whitehurst, former head of Dept of Ed IES. Sharon and Libby are excellent recommendations but Shanahan and Whitehurst add a connection to the latest early childhood scientific research that is so important in terms of quality and school readiness.
Regards, Susan Gunnewig
Lack of Early Ed Coverage
Is it because early educators are not tenured and rely on their talents and expertise to retain employment? Is it because early educators know how to do more with less and are use to working year-round to accomplish the gains they know children are capable of achieving? Is it because acknowledgement of the research on early skill acquisition will ultimately take funding away from the public system? Is it because early educators focus on the whole child and can function without a variety of specialists for PE, music, art, etc and can even respond to mild illness without an on duty nurse? Is it because a 40 hour work week, year-round, is a heck of a more efficient way to run an organization than spending dollars on recidivism and regression? Or is it because early educators know that supporting the economics and well-being of the family can only have a positive impact on the well-being of their young children?
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