NIEER Newsletter

UPDATE – COVID-19 webinar added to Events section. Hot Topics US Should Prioritize Safety and Education of Young Children Amid COVID-19 How has China been able to educate more than 220 million children—including preschoolers—safely confined to their ho

Hot Topics Keeping a child-care center open amid coronavirus NIEER Policy Advisory Tracy Jost shared with The Washington Post the challenge she’s facing to maintain her child care center business during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This has been one of the

Hot Topics: COVID-19 Resources Guidance to Schools and Families for Remote/Online Early Education The Agency and Young Children Research Collective offers guidance to teachers, parents, and caretakers seeking to educate young children using online tech

Hot Topics ECE Lessons from China’s Response to COVID-19 Having dealt with COVID-19 longer than any nation, China offers important lessons for the US. China’s response can inform policymakers in America. China responded to the virus and its impact on c

Hot Topics ECE Policymakers and Advocates Respond to COVID-19 NIEER has created an online curated collection of Resources for Early Childhood Policymakers on Preventing and Preparing for Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). As COVID-19 spreads and national, s

Hot Topics New Mexico Creates Early Childhood Trust Fund New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation last month to create an early childhood trust fund. Launched with a general fund appropriation of $320 million and to be sustained by

Hot Topics Are Digital Apps a Substitute for “Real Preschool”? The use of digital media by young children has grown rapidly in the past decade. The dimensions of this change are better understood by the public and policy makers than its consequences. S

Hot Topics Remembering Ron Lally “Young children everywhere — along with their families and caregivers — lost one of their best friends and most passionate champions … with the unexpected death of our dear colleague Ron Lally.” Read more. ECE Resources

Hot Topics REL Mid-Atlantic Looks at Young Learner Growth Measures A new report addresses key issues for Kindergarten Readiness Assessments (KRAs) and assessment K-3 more generally. REL Mid-Atlantic’s new report on growth measures finds schools’ K–3 gr

Hot Topics Spotlight on the Poor Pay Problem for Early Childhood Teachers A new report from UnidosUS focuses on Latinx preschool teachers, the importance of teachers who understand the cultural backgrounds and home language, and the importance and chal

Hot Topics CSCCE: Educator Work Environments Are Children’s Learning Environments: How and Why They Should Be Improved Center for the Study of Child Care Employment’s new blog post discusses the importance of supportive early education work environment

Hot Topics Reducing Chronic Absenteeism Among Pre-K, Kindergarten Students New resources to help identify and reduce chronic absenteeism among pre-K and kindergarten students are available from the REL Mid-Atlantic and the New Jersey Department of Educ

Hot Topics Screen-based media use and language and literacy skills in preschoolers Even very young children now commonly spend substantial time with screens (phones, tablets, TVs, etc.) and screen time including the use of digital media devices is incr

Hot Topics Updated Study Finds Children Benefit from Early Education An updated meta-analysis from the Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP) assesses the evidence for long-term effects and economic benefits from Head Start, state funded

Hot Topics Increases for Early Childhood Programs Early childhood programs will get $1.1 billion more than last year under a deal to fund the federal government through fiscal year 2020. The increases include $550 million for the Child Care and Develop

Hot Topics New NIEER-CityHealth Report on Pre-K in Cities Shows 34 of Nation’s Largest Cities Now Have Pre-K Program A new national report shows which large U.S. cities are leading on policies that address health and well-being, including high-quality,

Hot Topics Reading to Young Children, Infants Boosts Their Vocabulary Shared reading between parents and very young children, including infants, is associated with stronger vocabulary skills for nearly all children by age 3, say physicians at Rutgers R

Hot Topics Revised: Model Work Standards for Teaching Staff in Center-based Child Care The Center for the Study of Child Care Employment and the American Federation of Teachers have updated their Model Work Standards “to reflect a 21st-century context.

Hot Topics Large Hispanic Population States Use New Federal Dollars to Increase Child Care Provider Payment Rates States with a high population of low-income Hispanic children plan to use a federal appropriation to increase payment rates to child care 

Hot Topics Access to High-Quality State-Funded Preschool by Black and Latinx Children Black and Latinx children have little access to high-quality state-funded preschool, according to The Education Trust. It found Latinx children have particularly low