Preschool Matters Today
Behind the Numbers: How State Preschool Has Changed Since 2002
April 18, 2019
NIEER released its 16th State of Preschool report this week, once again providing information on enrollment, spending, and policies, especially those related to quality. This is a complex report and so we have written this blog to help readers get behind the numbers to what it all means. The State of Preschool is both a national report and…
Beyond “Thanks and Recognition”: Elevating Early Childhood Educators
April 18, 2019
Every year, NAEYC’s Week of the Young Child and NIEER’s State of Preschool Yearbook bring attention to early childhood education, celebrating what we do, and sharing research on how far we have to go. This year, both organizations included a focus on early childhood education professionals, with NIEER targeting data-collecting and sharing about pre-K teachers, and NAEYC working with partners to…
Blueprint for Quality Preschool
March 29, 2019
When you meet with a contractor to build a house, what is the first question you’re compelled to ask? Is it “How much is this going cost?” or maybe “How long is this going to take?” Of course, the contractor is likely to respond with something like: “Well, that depends. What kind of house do…
New Data Report Informs Early Childhood Interventions
March 22, 2019
There is no one comprehensive indicator of child well-being. Instead, child well-being spans physical, social-emotional, and cognitive health and development. Since children do not grow up in a vacuum separate from parents or communities, a variety of factors influence overall well-being and long-term flourishing. How can teachers, administrators, researchers, and parents get a sense of…
Don’t Look to Trump Budget for Child Care Help — You Won’t Find It
March 13, 2019
This blog was originally published Monday March 11, 2019 by the National Women’s Law Center and is reprinted here with permission. Today, the Administration released initial information about its 2020 Budget request. Despite what the Administration claims, this preview shows that Trump does not prioritize the child care needs of families and children. Based on…
Is Your Chief State School Officer an Early Learning Supporter? Take this Quiz
March 1, 2019
This blog was originally published by the Alliance for Early Success . The midterm elections of 2018 is ushering in a group of new state superintendents who will put their stamp on states’ education systems and reforms. Though most of them probably will not have much early education background, many of them will also lead state pre-k programs and…
Child Care is Unaffordable for Working Parents Who Need It Most
February 15, 2019
Our new Data-for-Equity Research Brief, Child Care Affordability for Working Parents , finds that many U.S. parents who are highly attached to the labor force would have a difficult time purchasing full-time center-based care. This finding is especially true for low-income, Hispanic and black parents. Child care is an important work support for parents. However, the cost of market-rate center-based care…
What makes the difference? Understanding implementation issues to inform scaling of early childhood services
February 4, 2019
Imagine you are in charge of developing or implementing a large scale early childhood program to reach a significant number of young children and families across a specific geographic area. Perhaps the plan is to reach several hundred children in a rural neighborhood or thousands of children in a few city blocks, or millions across…
Research Shows High-Quality Pre-K Can Pay Off, Now Let’s Deliver It
January 31, 2019
According to research, the difference in learning resources both within and outside the home for children growing up in low-income households and children from more affluent homes is associated, on average, with gaps in their cognitive development that can increase with each passing year–unless children have early access to high-quality learning opportunities. Preschool programs have…
Too Many Cities Missing Opportunities to Create Lasting Benefits for their Youngest Learners
January 23, 2019
Our new national report , Pre-K in American Cities, finds a growing number of large US cities enacting new local funding streams to establish and support Pre-K, yet many programs fail to meet minimum quality standards or serve only a small percentage of eligible children. Pre-K is a proven policy that every city should employ to ensure all…