Secretary Arne Duncan talks about the importance of early childhood education, and he calls on parents and citizens to get involved and “be part of the solution” in this January 7, 2011, video (via www.ed.gov).
Secretary Duncan on Early Learning and Parent and Community Involvement
Thursday, January 13th, 2011 | Author: Smart Start
Category: Raising Quality of Care & Education
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K-3rd Grade Retention Costs State Millions
Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 | Author: Smart Start
In the 2008-09 school year, North Carolina spent more than $167 million dollars retaining children in kindergarten through third grade.
While the number of children held back in grades K to 3 had been gradually decreasing in the state, it’s leveled off at about 4% –a number that is still too high according to the research and costs the state millions of dollars.
Among the ways cited by education personnel to reduce retention is to start early with intervention. FirstSchool, the author of the report, is PreK through 3rd grade initative. FirstSchool has made the Powerpoint presentation available as a template for other states and organizations to use. It’s available on their homepage.
The report, which was published in 2010, is an update of 2002 data.
Category: Raising Quality of Care & Education
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What It Takes to Build Birth-to-College Education
Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
The University of Chicago Urban Education Institute and the Ounce of Prevention Fund are partnering to “build a model of public education for children and their families that begins at birth and creates success in school, college, and life.”
The goal is to collaboratively and continuously align and create instructional practices, and academic and social supports, to demonstrate a new model of public education that seamlessly and successfully prepares children for college, beginning at birth.
The challenges of forming a partnership between early learning/PreK and the K-12 worlds are documented in the case study, Working Together to Building a Birth-to-College Approach to Public Education.
From the Foundation for Child Development website.
Category: Raising Quality of Care & Education
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Education Reform that Works: Early Childhood Education
Monday, December 13th, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
“There’s an education reform strategy that has 50 years of solid research behind it, with proven results that demonstrate how to improve student achievement. It’s a solution backed by both political parties to help narrow the achievement gap, increase high school graduation rates and reduce crime and delinquency. It’s an investment proven to yield up to $7 for every public dollar invested, paying dividends to families, school districts and taxpayers. It’s voluntary, high-quality pre-kindergarten.”
So begins Marci Young’s piece last week in The Washington Post. Young is the director of Pre-K Now. You can read the whole article online.
Category: Raising Quality of Care & Education
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Improving Early Childhood Quality with Professional Development
Tuesday, November 02nd, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
Lifting Pre-K Quality:Caring and Effective Teachers, a new report by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Texas, Houston, recommends the implementation of intensive teacher training and mentoring at the preschool level. It looks at the need to move from what it calls input-based strategies (i.e. requiring bachelor’s degrees for preschool teachers) to those have more evidence of improving outcomes for children. The report is generating much discussion.
Maggie Stevens from New America Foundation’s Early Ed Watch provides an excellent summary. She notes that the frank conversation around which approaches to improving program quality are proving successful, and which approaches simply aren’t successful enough are crucial if we want pre-k programs to help children reach their full potential.
In an Ed Week blog, Maureen Kelleher asks if the researchers asking the right question. She interviews Dr. Cheryl Roberts, who will be moderating a panel on PreK-3 at the annual NAEYC conference.
The report concludes by saying, “Minimal health and safety standards are essential for children’s well-being. But advocates and policy makers must go further, recognizing that progress depends upon elevating the skills of teachers and enriching relationships and instruction inside classrooms.”
Read more:
Category: Raising Quality of Care & Education
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School Readiness Research
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
The National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education has two new fact sheets available.
Readiness for School Involves an Array of Skills: Let’s Not Forget Fine Motor Development
“Interest in children’s success as readers has existed for a long time. With growing attention to our nation’s global competitiveness, school success with math and science is joining reading as important topic areas for children’s early learning. As a result, new research is exploring predictors of school success with math and science as well as for reading.
Towards this end, researchers from the National Center for Research in Early Childhood Education (NCRECE) re-examined longitudinal data from a ground-breaking study that identified kindergarten readiness factors. Their findings, which are presented in two related studies, confirm the value of a broad-based, early childhood education (ECE) curricula that incorporate multiple content areas and facilitates children’s overall development.”
Expanding School Readiness Gains in Prekindergarten
“This study focused on individual children and the type of activities with which they engage during their prekindergarten day – what the researchers call “pattern of classroom engagement.” Looking beyond the environment provided for learning and delving more deeply into activities occupying children’s time, this study sought to examine the relationship between four different patterns of classroom engagement and children’s later success on language, literacy, and mathematics school readiness indicators.
The study had two overarching purposes: (1) To assess the relationship between children’s pattern of classroom engagement and their school readiness gains during the prekindergarten year and (2) To learn if some patterns of classroom engagement promoted greater school readiness gains for low-income children.”
Category: Raising Quality of Care & Education
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A Fresh Start: Leveling the playing field before school begins
Monday, October 04th, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
Governor Jim Hunt participated in NBC’s Education Nation panel, A Fresh Start: Leveling the playing field before school begins. “I’m proud of Smart Start which begins at birth,” the Governor emphasized! (We are too!)
Education Nation noted, “The Federal government invests five dollars in Americans over the age of 65 for every one dollar invested in children under the age of 5. Leaders in the field shine a light on the ways early education makes a deep and lasting difference in our lives and communities.” More at Four featured in an opening video for the discussion.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Category: Raising Quality of Care & Education
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Policymakers Praise Davidson County Smart Start Program
Friday, August 27th, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
On Thursday, former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt and Davidson County Representative Hugh Holliman visited Smart Start of Davidson County for a progress update about the School Readiness program. The program brings educators into children’s homes to help them build skills they need to succeed in school. Superintendents from the three local school systems were in attendance as they collaborate with Smart Start to provide the program.
Smart Start’s School Readiness program is a local version of Parents as Teachers, a national program that offers information, support, and encouragement to parents with young children to promote children’s healthy growth and development. The program brings school readiness educators like Bleasha Carroll into family’s homes to teach learning games and activities that develop the fine motor, gross motor, social-emotional, language, and cognitive skills children need to thrive in school.
Here’s some of what was said to a reporter from The Dispatch:
“I certainly appreciate the job that you’re all doing,” Holliman said to the Smart Start staff. “We think early childhood education is one of the best ways to get kids ready before they start school.”
Edna Amos is a school readiness specialist with Thomasville City Schools. “I am a lover of Smart Start,” she said. “We do believe that no matter what walks of life you are from, the core of every parent wants the best for their child.”
“I’m very proud of Smart Start. These are our children, the parent’s children, the community’s children and God’s children,” Hunt said. “We’ve just got to do a lot more. This works, this helps make our schools work. I am so proud of all you do in Davidson County.”
Read the article in The Dispatch.
Category: Supporting Families
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Too Smart for Kindergarten?
Monday, August 23rd, 2010 | Author: Smart Start
Smart Start on the Radio: Listen now!
RALEIGH, N.C. – As thousands of children across North Carolina start kindergarten this month and more children are attending pre-school every year, will some kids be too smart for kindergarten, already know too much and be bored?
That’s not possible, says Stephanie Fanjul, director of the North Carolina Partnership for Children. Her organization runs Smart Start, which offers enrichment opportunities for parents and children.
“What we believe is that positive early education experiences can only help children succeed in school. That is what the science shows us and it’s why Smart Start works to provide these opportunities.”
Part of the early childhood education curriculum includes training on how to work with children at a variety of skill levels.
The bigger concern for experts like Dr. Richard Clifford of the FPG Child Development Institute at UNC Chapel Hill is the number of children who are retained every year. Statewide, about six percent of children are held back from advancing to the next grade, costing the state almost $165 million in 2007 alone for students in grades kindergarten through third.
“Rates that are reasonable rates are more in the one to two percent range than they are in the six or seven or higher percent range.”
Experts say the best way to prepare a child for school is to engage in activities that make learning a fun family activity.
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