Just for Fun

Can Michelle Obama and Elmo Get Kids To Eat Their Vegetables?

Sara Mead — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:02:00 -0400

As part of her ongoing effort to promote healthy eating and lifestyle choices, First Lady Michelle Obama will appear on the November 10 episode of Sesame Street,in which she helps Elmo and his friends plant a vegetable garden and explains to Big Bird that, even though they're both tall, that doesn't mean they're related. Check it out here:

Earlier this year, Mrs. Obama appeared in a public service announcement with Elmo encouraging parents to model healthy choices for their children. Her predecessors Laura Bush and Barbara Bush also appeared on the show, in segments promoting literacy. The show's 40th season (which we wrote about a few months back, lamenting the show's drop in ratings) will also feature guest appearances from Kobe Bryant, Cameron Diaz, and Ricky Gervais, as well as a much-awaited (by grown up pop culture followers, at least) skit parodying Mad Men.

Follow Us on Twitter!

Christina Satkowski — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:17:00 -0400

Yes, we are now officially "cool."

Keep up with Early Ed Watch via our new Twitter feed (http://twitter.com/EdPolicyatNAF) or become a fan on our Facebook page here.

Michelle Obama Sets a Good Example--And Encourages Parents to Do the Same

Sara Mead — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:16:00 -0400

Seems like everyone these days wants to be like Michelle Obama--even a little, furry, red muppet! Mrs. Obama recently joined Elmo in a PSA to encourage parents to set healthy examples--such as eating healthy foods, reading books, and getting regular exercise--for their children. Sesame Street has always used adult-muppet interactions on the show to model good parent-child interactions for parents who may be watching the show along with their children. It's good to see the First Lady taking part in that tradition, and leveraging her status as a role model to help parents make good choices.

President Obama Reads "Where the Wild Things Are" To Children at White House Egg Roll

Sara Mead — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:48:00 -0400

Duncan's Education Policy Has An Unlikely Supporter: Singer Neko Case

Sara Mead — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:37:00 -0400

As a fan of singer Neko Case, I was already disappointed that I didn't act in time to get tickets to her two sold-out concerts in Washington, D.C., this week. But now I'm even more bummed. The New Republic reports that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attended and introduced Case at last night's performance. Apparently, Case is a friend of Tim Tuten, who, in addition to owning a popular Chicago music venue also oversaw communications for the Chicago Public Schools and has followed Duncan to Washington. Case reportedly also made positive remarks about the Obama administration's education policies.

This is not really relevant to early education, but nevertheless pretty awesome.

Now: Would it be too much to hope for a Neko Case cameo on Sesame Street? Perhaps a quick glance at last year's Feist appearance can make the case for how cool that would be.

Must See YouTube: Teaching Content is Teaching Reading

Sara Mead — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:44:00 -0500

UVA cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham is at it again, with a new YouTube video about the connection between content knowledge and reading comprehension. You never knew cognitive science could be so much fun!

Willingham's core message: While decoding skills and vocabulary are essential for students to read proficiently, reading comprehension requires something more. To truly comprehend what they read, students need a strong base of content knowledge that allows them to connect concepts on the page with existing knowledge to understand what the text is telling them. The implication for policy and practice? If we really want children to read proficiently, we need to not only teach them to read, but also equip them with content knowledge in a wide range of subjects.

This point is particularly relevant to the ongoing debate over NCLB and curricular narrowing: Elementary schools currently spend the lion's share of their limited class time on "teaching reading"--particularly decoding and reading strategies--but relatively little time on content areas such as social studies and science. And some schools have responded to increased accountability pressures by spending more time on reading and language arts, at the expense of time spent on other subjects. But the research Willingham cites suggests that this approach may be counterproductive, because in order to become good readers children need to acquire content knowledge in a wide range of fields.

It's also directly relevant to the ongoing debate about the Reading First program. As we've noted previously, the Reading First evaluation used a test of reading comprehension to measure the program's impact on students' reading skills. Yet a test of reading comprehension is hardly the best measure of Reading First's impacts, since Reading First is intended to build children's decoding, vocabulary, and other reading skills--not their content knowledge. What the Reading First evaluation shows is not necessarily a failure of Reading First--it also reflects a failure of our schools to equip children with the content knowledge they need to comprehend new texts.

One solution to this problem: Integrate literacy into other subjects, such as science and arts, rather than teaching it in isolation. Also, ensure that the text children read during time devoted to language arts are content-rich texts that expand their knowledge, including both nonfiction works and high-quality children's literature. As Congress approaches NCLB reauthorization, and also considers the fate of Reading First funding, they should keep the importance of content knowledge in mind and look for ways to improve both the law's accountability provisions and Reading First to increase the emphasis on content knowledge in the early grades.

Happy New Year!

Sara Mead — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:52:00 -0500

If you read this blog, you probably already know how important it is for parents to talk to their babies and small children and engage them in conversation. Little Anders Gross and his mom, Lindsay, demonstrate below. Note that while Anders is still working on his language skills, he's already quite proficient in the 21st Century Skill of vlogging.

Happy New Year!

Where Does Damon Weaver go to School?

Sara Mead — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:58:00 -0500

Damon Weaver, whose Joe Biden is My Homeboy video rocketed him to national fame during the presidential campaign, is a student at K. E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary, a 528 student PK-6 public elementary school in Florida's Palm Beach County School District. Despite the impressive recording studio on display in this video, this is hardly an affluent school: More than 96 percent of the school's students are economically disadvantaged. Nearly 70 percent of the student body is African American, and over 25 percent is Hispanic. Unfortunately, the school's academic performance is not very impressive. Only 45 percent of the school's fourth graders are proficient in reading--well below state averages--although 78 percent are proficient in math. The school failed to make adequate yearly progress under NCLB for the 2007 school year because its students fell short of achievement targets. It received a grade of "B" on the Florida state accountability system.

Damon's clearly a smart, charismatic kid with the potential for a bright future ahead of him: Will his education prepare him to make the most of that potential? Is he getting the kind of education we should demand for all our kids? What about his less famous peers? We think it'd be pretty cool if Obama did agree to let Damon interview him. But we think a much more important question is: What will Obama's education policy agenda do to improve outcomes for Damon, his schoolmates, and kids like them across the country?

Things We're Thankful For

Sara Mead — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:27:00 -0500

Early Ed Watch is going to be taking off the next few days to allow us to enjoy some turkey and all the fixings with family and friends. But we'll be back next week with more early education coverage, including this New America event. In the meantime, the holiday spirit has got us thinking about some of the things we're grateful for this Thanksgiving:

We're grateful that, for the first time ever, both major party Presidential nominees recognized the importance of early education and released plans to improve quality, access and alignment in early education.
We're grateful for the incredible innovation that continues to occur in early education at the local, state, and research level. And we're grateful to see some of those innovations, such as the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) becoming increasingly integrated into a growing number of state early education systems.
We're grateful that, despite the tight fiscal climate, most Governors and state legislatures stood firm on early education funding for fiscal year 2009, bringing state pre-k spending to a record $5.2 billion this year.
We're grateful that Washington, D.C., passed legislation committing to make high-quality pre-k universally available to all 3- and 4-year-olds in the District by 2013.
We're grateful for the many Senators and Members of Congress who have advocated for early education this year, and that they'll be joined by several new colleagues with strong early education records come January.
We're grateful to you: In less than a year of its existence, Early Ed Watch's readership has grown tremendously. Thank you for reading our blog and making that possible.

What are you grateful for this holiday season? Let us know in the comments.

Don't Forget to Vote!

Sara Mead — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 15:38:00 -0500

Whichever way you're voting today, I think we can all agree that these political babies are adorable. Since they can't vote, please remember them when you do.

Photos courtesy of flickr users Ladd, dwyeropolis, stirnaman.photo, and Brian Finifter, used under a Creative Commons license.