Early Education Initiative

Deep Creek Elementary School is an education success story. In 2001, Deep Creek, where more than three-quarters of students come from low-income families and 80 percent are black or Hispanic, was one of the worst elementary schools in Baltimore County, Maryland. Its third-graders were reading at a first-grade level. But the new principal, Anissa Brown Dennis, expanded collaboration and professional development for teachers, implemented an aligned reading and math curriculum from pre-K through third grade, and offered summer learning and… more

The candidates for the 2008 presidential nominations have not been as detailed about education policy as in some recent elections. But that doesn’t mean the stakes of the Democratic and Republican races aren’t high for K-12 schools. ...

As the campaign edges closer to the stage when votes are cast, candidates will start answering those questions in more detail, suggests Marc Lampkin, the executive director of Strong American Schools, a nonpartisan effort aimed at encouraging the presidential candidates to lay out… more

As a Senior Research Fellow with the New America Foundation, Sara Mead conducts research and writes about early childhood and elementary and secondary education, with a particular focus on state and federal policy issues including preschool, PreK-3rd education reform, the No Child Left Behind Act, federal education funding, charter schools… more

In 1961, 13 three- and four-year-olds from poor black families began attending a preschool class at Perry Elementary School in Ypsilanti, Michigan. They were there as much to learn as to teach. A team of researchers followed not only their time at the preschool, but their trajectory over the next four decades, and the findings were startling:

Compared to a control group of similar children who didn’t attend preschool, this class from Perry Elementary School would be less likely to… more

Education wonk Sara Mead is joining the New America Foundation as a senior research fellow studying education, workforce, and family issues. Mead, 28, has received notice for contending that the "crisis" in boys' education is overblown and for her criticism, with Andrew Rotherham, of the ranking system used annually to determine Newsweek's "100 Best High Schools." "We have found that many schools in Newsweek's ranking have high dropout rates or glaring achievement gaps… more

The upcoming reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) presents an opportunity for the federal government to expand access to high-quality, early education programs. At present, quality standards vary widely among federal, state, local, and private early care and education programs, and relatively few programs align their curricular and teacher standards with early elementary school grades. There is a role for the federal government to play in both expanding access and harmonizing decentralized early education programs horizontally across… more

Access to quality pre-kindergarten (PK) programs varies widely among and within states. While PK enrollment is growing, large disparities in access and quality threaten to undermine the capacity of early childhood education to close achievement gaps. Research shows that at-risk children can catch up to their non-disadvantaged peers by participating in highquality PK programs that are linked to K-3 structures. However, fewer than half of children ages 3 and 4 engage in some type of early childhood education—before quality… more

Good afternoon.(Audience: mumbled “good afternoon.”)I know we’re in the Senate building, but I’m a Kindergarten teacher so, good afternoon!

(Audience: “Good afternoon!”)

It’s a pleasure to be here today, to serve as the keynote speaker because early childhood education really is my passion. There is nothing else better in the world than teaching five-year old children to learn how to read, to write, to do mathematics and to just be curious and wonder about the… more

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1) The PK-3 Workforce is Subject to an Array of Entry Standards. Public school teachers in grades K-3 must meet the quality standards of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Pre-kindergarten (PK) teachers in Title I-funded programs also are regulated by NCLB. But Head Start teachers have their own separate entry standards. In some state PK programs, all teachers must possess a bachelor’s degree and have engaged in additional early childhood or PK-3 training. In others,… more

As Congress prepares for reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, policymakers will be forced to answer difficult questions about the relationship between teacher quality and student outcomes at all levels of education. What should teachers of young children know and what skills do they need? How can colleges of education improve the PK-3 workforce? How can the federal government improve the quality of PK-3 teachers through NCLB?

This event, hosted jointly by the New America Foundation and the… more