Each Child. Every Community.

Last month Governor Perdue announced her decision to utilize $20 million dollars for NC Pre-K. Since the announcement, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Governor’s office have been asked to articulate where the funds...

From the Public Education Network Weekly NewsBlast: A new report from First Focus and Save the Children gives the country a letter grade of C- in child well being. The report card assigns national grades in five key domains of...

From the Public School Forum of NC: Governor Candidates Q&A The Public School Forum recently reached out to candidates running in the November 2012 General Election for the office of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction asking...

A new paper by The Urban Institute examines four critical questions related to the lasting impact of child poverty. What share of newborns is poor, and how often do these children remain poor? What family characteristics relate most strongly to childhood...

Saki Knafo asks, "Will Preschool Budget Cuts Damage a Generation?" in a feature article in The Huffington Post. The article takes a close look at North Carolina's early learning efforts and the potential impact of budget cuts. He focuses...

Today, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled affirm the Superior Court Judge Howard Manning’s order mandating the State to not deny any eligible “at-risk” four year old admission to the North Carolina Pre-Kindergarten Program.   In its ruling, the...

Major General Charles Luckey discusses why early childhood development is critical to our national security at the 2012 National Smart Start Conference. He is the Assistant to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff for Reserve Matters/Joint Staff Lead Iraq...

Originally posted in the Avery Journal at http://averyjournal.com/Community/story/Children-learn-to-read-in-area-parks-this-summer-id-010003 Children learn to read in area parks this summer Justin Grimes / (averyjournalist@gmail.com) Avery County’s award winning Smart Start takes its free summer reading series outside into area parks. The new program, StoryWalk, was...

RALEIGH—The budget released by the North Carolina General Assembly Wednesday evening provides early childhood programs with a reprieve from the damaging cuts of the past several years. At the same time, it keeps the state’s early education system disproportionately...

For Immediate Release from  the Covenant with North Carolina’s Children: Senate slashes infant mortality prevention programs Proposed budget draws ire from child advocates RALEIGH, NC – The Senate’s proposed budget for 2012-13 would discontinue funding for all state-funded infant mortality prevention programs, according...