Sharing Web Resources

Pre-Now is an organization that was based under the Pew Research Center. I was interesting in finding more information about the center. I found out that the Pew Research Center works on developing reports, data trends, quizzes and graphics, which inform the public about issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. The Pew Charitable Trusts funded the 10-year campaign to develop high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year-olds in 2011. Through its accomplishments, Pre-K Now reformed the national conversation about pre-k education, and in its final report, challenged the nation’s policy makers to transform public education by moving away from the current K-12 system to pre-K-12. The pre-k now website has a lot of links to articles, videos and reports relevant to the Pre-K Now organization’s research and studies.

While continuing my search through the Pre-K Now website, I found some very interesting articles that apply to what we are learning this week in class. The first article I came across was called Tapping Title I: What Every School Administrator Should Know about Title I, Pre-K and School Reform. The article discussed how several school districts have difficulty discovering resources to provide needed early childhood programs for families in their communities. One largely available funding source that can be utilized more to fund pre-k is Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Title 1 is the biggest source of federal funding for public schools that ensures all children living in high-poverty areas receive an effective and high-quality education.  Title 1 and Pre-K both have similar goals: “to help reduce achievement gaps and improve academic performance among students living in poverty.” The article also gave strategies that are pre-k related to complement Title 1 school reform:

·      Increase pre-k access for at risk children

·      Align pre-k through 3rd learning goals and standards

·      Establish common standards and expectations across all Pre-K programs

·      Extend pre-k program hours and/or school years

·      Offer additional literacy instruction for ELLs

·      Provide joint professional development opportunities

·      Implement age-appropriate screenings and assessment tools

·      Provide comprehensive services (i.e. health, nutrition, social services)

·      Hold parent-education seminars

The next article I read was titled Meeting the Challenge of Rural Pre-K. The article stated that accessibility to pre-k in rural areas are lower than urban and suburban school districts. Low accessibility for pre-k in rural areas translates into low school readiness for those children. To be more specific, research found that children in rural areas are 15% LESS likely to start kindergarten with important early literacy skills and 50% LESS likely to know beginning sounds than children in urban and suburban areas. They are also 60% MORE likely to need special education versus children raised in non-rural areas.

The following article titled The Pre-K Pinch: Early Education and the Middle Class discussed how middle-class families earn too much to qualify for state pre-kindergarten programs, so private early education and care is among the most burdensome expenses. They went onto say how by providing high-quality pre-k to all, policymakers can help these strapped families while enhancing children’s school readiness and our nation’s human capital. Only eight states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation to extend eligibility for pre-k to all children whose families want to enroll them, and only Oklahoma has achieved an enrollment rate greater

than 60 percent of four year olds. For the remaining 30 states with pre-k programs, 20 use family income on its own or with other “risk factors” to determine eligibility. In the majority of these states, a family of four earning a little more than $40,000 a year would not be able to enroll their children in pre-k.

The website has many more interesting articles I look forward to reading as the year goes on. These were just a few that stood out to me that I believe appli