Little is yet known about President-elect Donald Trump's plans for early education, but the priorities of his appointees provide a clue about future directions. As reported in Education Week,
Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga.,
Trump's pick for
secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), previously put forward legislation to allow Head Start funds to be managed at the state level. Head Start is part of HHS.
Price's 2007 bill, which was ultimately voted down, would have created a pilot program in which eight states coordinated their existing state-run preschool programs with Head Start funds, rather than having the funds flow directly to Head Start grantees.
In arguing against Price's plan, former Rep. George Miller, a Democrat from California, said the proposal would have no requirement that the pilot states run a program that is as comprehensive or as high in quality as Head Start.
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Jose Herrera-Vasquez is checking the wall to see his progress in reading and writing. Credit: Liv Ames, EdSource
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Lindsay Unified, a small rural district in Tulare County, California, has embraced "performance-based learning," which breaks do
wn
the way c
l
assrooms are structured so that students can work
independently, with tea
chers providing individualized support.
Lindsay is part of a growing national move
ment, with more schools embracing the concept of students working at their own pace, being in charge of their own learning and advancing only when they can show they understand the material.
All students are aware of their progress, even kindergartners such as Jose Herrera-Vasquez, who pointed to his classroom's wall where it showed how far he had progressed -- to level 3 -- in reading and writing in kindergarten.
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A federally funded research project makes official what kindergarten teachers have known for years: There are major differences in how self-regulation emerges in children ages 3 to 7, and many enter kindergarten
with delays in development of this critical skill.
The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, looks at tests of self-control in more than 1,300 children. Boys were more likely to be late developers of self control than girls, which is consistent with previous research.
The study's authors believe helping kids develop self-control should be a higher priority goal for early education than is often the case. A fifth of the study's participants made few gains on behavioral self-regulation in preschool, perhaps due to increased emphasis on academic mastery in the early years. "If you can help children to develop this fundamental skill of behavioral self-regulation, it will allow these students to get so much more out of education," said lead author Ryan Bowles. "Self-regulation is very predictive of academic success."
Tips for helping young children develop self-control are available here.
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Credit: Sarah Tully, EdSource
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K
eeping budgets in the black for high-quality child care centers is a huge challenge -- especially in expensive areas.
Center directors in high-cost areas of California spoke to New America about the difficult dance of tapping multiple sources of funding (and their multiple reporting requirements) to try to cover costs. "The costs to run a center are crazy," one center director said. "And the subsidized rate that you get from the state [to serve low-income families who cannot pay full price] does not cover that cost."
One organization in San Jose holds 12 different contracts with the State of California to provide services for young children. The money comes under the banners of child care, pre-K, welfare to work, and services for migrant families, but none of these sources are sufficient on their own.
The high cost of living and rent mean that centers in California are struggling to be able to pay staff a livable wage and hire qualified educators with the training needed to promote positive child development.
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Young children whose mothers support their understanding of numbers with simple games -- such as helping them count how many blocks are in a set or identify written numbers -- tend to have better math achievement at ages 4 1/2 and 5 years, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Boston College.
The study focused on the role of mothers in developing stronger understanding of basic number concepts through play (though presumably any caregiver or teacher could perform the same role).
"
Many young children can count from one to 10 without understanding the meaning of the numbers they're counting
," said study leader Beth Casey of Boston College
. "What may be particularly important at around age three is for parents to present their
children with small groups of one, two, or three objects, and tell them how many
objects there are -- for example, by saying at the grocery store, 'See, there are two apples in our bag.'"
Many free online programs and apps, such as
Daily Vroom, provide parents with suggestions for activities and games that can support early math. And, a
recent post from New America looks at the importance of "math talk" and inquiry-based learning activities in the preschool classroom as a foundation for children's learning.
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Though they are "a big ask" for teachers, home visits to preschool children and their families can help create stronger connections between school and home and help improve student attendance. A Head Start requirement for many years, home visits are seen as a way to make the first encounter with preschool a positive one. Read more.
Let's talk about the low pay for child care workers
In an article for
U.S. News and World Report, Sara Mead writes, "as social and economic opportunities for women have expanded, we as a society have been unwilling to confront the real costs of caring for children. The current child care market and many publicly funded early childhood programs continue to exploit women -- often women of color, often mothers themselves -- who earn low wages in child care jobs."
Read more.
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