The Answer Sheet: early childhood


Posted at 10:53 AM ET, 04/29/2013

Study: Preschool funding sees unprecedented single-year drop
By Valerie Strauss
Enrollment stalled and more programs saw a drop in quality than improvement along with the funding drop.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:53 AM ET, 04/29/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Early Childhood Education, Nationwide

Posted at 02:47 PM ET, 04/10/2013

Universal preschool: Important but no panacea
By Valerie Strauss
Increasing the number of youngsters in preschool is a good thing. But improving quality in programs is another, and the content and direction of preschools will be influenced by ideological fervor.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:47 PM ET, 04/10/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Early Childhood Education, Preschool, Quality of Program Matters

Posted at 08:47 AM ET, 03/07/2013

Jon Stewart ridicules preschool critics
By Valerie Strauss
Take six minutes and 12 seconds to watch Stewart take apart critics of preschool.

By Valerie Strauss  |  08:47 AM ET, 03/07/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Early Childhood Education, Hilarious Video

Posted at 10:22 AM ET, 02/19/2013

Why is Obama calling for a 'rigorous curriculum' for 3-year-olds?
By Valerie Strauss
The Obama administration's first focus on early childhood education, back in 2011, raises questions about focus.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:22 AM ET, 02/19/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Early Childhood Education, The Devil Is In The Details, The Early Childhood Initiative

Posted at 09:21 PM ET, 02/12/2013

Obama on education in State of Union address
By Valerie Strauss
President Obama calls for early childhood education and other education initiatives in his State of the Union speech.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:21 PM ET, 02/12/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  State of the Union, Stresses Early Childhood Education

Posted at 02:58 PM ET, 02/01/2013

Arne Duncan: We need gun control, more early childhood education
By Valerie Strauss
ducation Arne Duncan made clear in an interview with Bloomberg Radio that he plans to concentrate on early childhood education in President Obama's second term and he said the country must deal with gun violence now. Here are excerpts from the interview.

By Valerie Strauss  |  02:58 PM ET, 02/01/2013 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Tags:  Arne Duncan, Early Childhood Education, Education Secretary, Excerpts From Interview

Posted at 05:00 AM ET, 12/03/2010

Time to pay attention to a reform that works
By Valerie Strauss
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. So why don't we focus on it like a laser beam?

By Valerie Strauss  |  05:00 AM ET, 12/03/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  achievement gap, early childhood education, kindergarten, pre-k, pre-kindergarten

Posted at 01:43 PM ET, 11/19/2010

Kohn: What 'ready to learn' really means
By Valerie Strauss
Alfie Kohn explores the real meaning of what he calls the "rather odd" phrase "ready to learn" as it is applied to young children.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:43 PM ET, 11/19/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Alfie Kohn, Alfie Kohn, Alfie Kohn | Tags:  David McLelland, alfie kohn, early childhood education, martin haberman, readiness to learn, ready to learn

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 08/02/2010

Ed policies ignore science on how/when kids learn
By Valerie Strauss
Early education expert Lisa Guernsey shows just how out of whack American public education is by looking at new science and social research.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:00 AM ET, 08/02/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers, Guest Bloggers | Tags:  Lisa Guernsey, New America Foundation, early childhood development and reading, early education, early education initiative, literacy development

Posted at 09:30 AM ET, 04/04/2010

Obama’s ed reform ignores high-quality Pre-K
By Valerie Strauss
The director of Pre-K Now says that President Obama's blueprint for education reform ignores the most rigorously evaluated and effective education reform of the last half-century: high-quality pre-kindergarten.

By Valerie Strauss  |  09:30 AM ET, 04/04/2010 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Early Childhood, Early Childhood | Tags:  No Child Left Behind, early childhood, pre-kindergarten

Posted at 01:05 PM ET, 11/23/2009

New study: 'Alarming' TV watching by preschoolers in daycare
By Valerie Strauss
Ground control--we have a problem. The first study in more than 20 years to examine screen time in child care settings has found that many really young kids are watching twice as much television as was previously estimated. And really young kids aren’t supposed to be watching ANY television.

By Valerie Strauss  |  01:05 PM ET, 11/23/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Early Childhood | Tags:  early childhood, television watching

Posted at 10:29 PM ET, 11/06/2009

Sesame Street is turning 40--and still NOT for the very young
By Valerie Strauss
“Mommy, who is that talking to Elmo?” “That’s Sarah Jessica Parker, honey, you know, from Sex and the... Oh, right. You are 3. You don’t care who she is.” That’s what I thought when I read that “Sesame Street” is next Tuesday celebrating its 40th--yes, 40th--anniversary.

By Valerie Strauss  |  10:29 PM ET, 11/06/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Early Childhood | Tags:  Sesame Street, early childhood development

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 11/05/2009

Guernsey: If bedtime is book time, let's make morning time for math
By Valerie Strauss
By Lisa Guernsey< Bedtime = book time. Parents know that equation by heart, or at least they’re supposed to. The drill goes like this: Just before the goodnight kiss, we snuggle up with our young kids, open a book, and read with them. Okay, so maybe at first we have to beg them to just settle down. And maybe the baby is more prone to eat the pages than look at them. But still, we try. We’re the ones responsible for these little human beings. It’s part of our job. Mathematics, on the other hand, that’s not on the must-do list. Reading may be part of the raising-kids routine. Math – not so much. But maybe it should be.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 11/05/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Early Childhood, Early Childhood, Early Childhood | Tags:  early childhood, math

Posted at 06:30 AM ET, 11/02/2009

Tutors for 3-year-olds and more preschool nuttiness
By Valerie Strauss
It is well known that many preschool parents have become super anxious trying to give their kids a leg up on kindergarten, but I didn't realize just how nutty things have become until I talked to several dozen preschool program directors.

By Valerie Strauss  |  06:30 AM ET, 11/02/2009 |  Permalink  |  Comments ( 0)
Categories:  Early Childhood, Early Childhood, Early Childhood | Tags:  child development, early childhood education, preschool